German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock confirmed during a visit to Kiev that her country, along with the Netherlands, will provide Ukraine with state-of-the-art heavy weapons, including the Panzerhaubitze 2000, and will begin training for the Ukrainian military “over the next few days.”
Accompanied by her Dutch counterpart, Wopke Hoekstra for part of the visit to Ukraine, Baerbock said the seven howitzers Germany is giving Kiev to enable it “to protect its cities against future attacks” will arrive in Ukraine before the military training is complete. This way, she explained at a press conference with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitry Kuleba, the soldiers will be prepared to operate the equipment immediately after their return to the warzone from Germany.
Berlin’s decision to send self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, announced three days ago by Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, marked yet another U-turn in Germany’s post-Nazi policy of not sending heavy weapons to war zones.