Owing to mounting pressure, Germany
ultimately agreed on Tuesday to authorize tank deliveries to Ukraine to aid the
country’s struggle against Russian aggression.

According to Reuters, Rheinmetall, a
German defence company, had requested permission to export 88 old Leopord 1A5
and 100 old Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. In the proposal, the
company also assured that it will replenish the military vehicles months
ahead of sending them.

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The development is a breakthrough given Germany’s long-standing policy of not exporting arms to war zones, adhering to
which Germany, unlike other Western allies, had not provided arms to Ukraine
prior to Russia’s invasion on February 24 and even prohibited other nations
from suppling German-origin military equipment.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
was facing rising backlash at home and abroad for his government’s
inability to deploy heavy weaponry to Ukraine. This came in the face of
continual military reinforcements from Western allies to assist the wrecked
country in defending itself against Russian attacks.

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Scholz had countered by saying that
Germany’s military reserves were too exhausted to provide any powerful
battlefield weaponry such as tanks and howitzers, and that those that German
industry claimed it could supply would be difficult to use.

Sholz’s indecisiveness in this subject
had pitted his Social Democrats (SPD) against coalition allies, the
Greens, and the Free Democrats (FPD). Additionally, former German Chancellor
Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was adamant about
filing a motion demanding for immediate weapons exports. Scholz’s position
would have been jeopardised if FPD and the Greens had approved the motion.

This
is when Rheinmetall applied to the country’s national security council for
clearance to export the heavy weapons shipment, hence pushing the Scholz
government to finally take a decision.

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This influx of German heavy weapons to
Ukraine’s arsenal will give the country an equal playing field against Russia
in Donbas, a terrain viewed as better suited for tank operations than the
areas around Kyiv, where much of the action had previously occurred.