Scholz has maintained a cautious stance on arms deliveries to Ukraine, sending sophisticated artillery and armored vehicles as well as multiple rocket launchers, but no tanks. Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht repeated that line on Monday, saying no other country had provided Western-made tanks to the Ukrainian military “and we have come to an understanding with our partners that Germany will not do it alone.” But the destruction of Russian troops in northeastern Ukraine – the Kremlin’s biggest military setback since it was forced to withdraw its forces from Kyiv and the north in March – has prompted calls for a change in policy. Officials in a growing number of NATO countries are now calling for a big increase in arms deliveries to Ukraine, arguing that a well-stocked army could liberate even more territory. They have also pointed to the large role played in Ukraine’s recent successes on the battlefield by Western weapons, such as the US long-range missiles known as Himars. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, left, greets Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at the Chancellery in Berlin earlier this month © Carsten Koall/Getty Images Analysts have also warned that the latest advances could leave Ukrainian forces overstretched and their increasingly long supply lines vulnerable to Russian attack. This strengthens the argument for providing Western tanks and tracked vehicles such as the M1 Abrams, Challenger 2 or Leopard. “For the Ukrainians to recapture territory they need speed, protection and fire – and you can only achieve that with a combination of armored vehicles, artillery, air defense and tanks,” said Claudia Major, a defense analyst at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. But Lambrecht said on Monday that Germany had “reached its limits” in supplying Ukraine, amid concerns that the Bundeswehr’s own stocks were running dangerously low. The fear was, he said, that Germany might not be able to meet its military commitments to NATO. That argument was rejected by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg last week. Asked what countries should do when faced with the choice of helping Ukraine or fulfilling their obligations to the alliance, he said arming Kiev had strengthened the security of NATO member states. “By ensuring that Russia, President Putin, does not win in Ukraine, we also increase our own security and strengthen the alliance,” he said. “It was difficult for Scholz because he kicked out the main crutch of German policy of not sending tanks,” said a senior diplomat in Berlin. “He basically said: forget your NATO obligations, Ukraine is the priority.” Other major NATO powers such as France do not see as much political debate on the issue, he said. “But this is because Germany is perceived as a kind of touchstone for European support for Ukraine,” he added. “That’s why it’s so important.” Ukraine is also stepping up the pressure on Berlin. On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba described the signals from Berlin as “disappointing”, saying that Germany’s Leopard tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles were now needed to “liberate people and save them from genocide”. German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht at the handover ceremony of the new Leopard 2 tanks to the German army in February © Sean Gallup/Getty Images “Not even a logical argument as to why these weapons cannot be handed over, only abstract fears and excuses,” he tweeted. “What does Berlin fear and what does Kyiv not fear?” The US also hinted that Germany could do more. “As much as I admire and applaud everything that Germany is doing. . . the only thing that goes beyond that is my expectations of what Germany and the US will do going forward,” Amy Gutmann, the US ambassador to Berlin, told public broadcaster ZDF on Sunday. “We will do more. we need to do more.” Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister, also indicated on Wednesday that German policy on arms procurement may change. “As far as modern tanks are concerned, we have to decide this together, in an alliance and internationally,” he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “But at the decisive stage that Ukraine is in right now, I don’t think it’s a decision that should be delayed for long.” Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a liberal lawmaker who heads the Bundestag’s defense committee, went further. Speaking on German radio on Monday, he appealed to all those “who have not yet understood that in a war situation like this, Ukraine’s successes can only be sustained if they get the weapons they need now.”

The German arms industry is also urging Scholz to consider ending his resistance to the supply of tanks. On Tuesday, arms maker Rheinmetall said it had repaired 16 Marders from old Bundeswehr stocks: the vehicles were ready to be sent to Ukraine, but had not yet been granted an export license by the government. Even Scholz’s own party, the Social Democrats, is beginning to show more flexibility on the tank issue. Michael Roth, an SPD lawmaker and head of the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, said it was true that no country had yet supplied Western tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. “But such arrangements are not decided,” he told German radio. “That’s why we have to sit down. with the US and figure out what else we can provide.”