A symbol of Olaf Scholz's half-hearted Ukraine aid

On April 1 of last year, Olaf Scholz received a short-term visit. Former world boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko, brother of Kiev mayor Vitali, had come to the German capital to speak to the chancellor's office in person. The main concern of the athlete, who led a delegation of Ukrainian politicians: the delivery of Marder armored personnel carriers to Ukraine. Olaf Scholz knew what the Ukrainian visitor was talking about.

Because about a month earlier, shortly after the Federal Chancellor's "turning point" speech, the largest German armaments company Rheinmetall had offered the federal government 100 decommissioned martens for delivery to the Ukraine. The federal government, however, ignored the offer – and Klitschko could not change Scholz's mind either.

In mid-April, Rheinmetall then submitted an official offer to the federal government to export the 100 Marder tanks. Every German arms export must be approved by the Federal Security Council under the leadership of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. But this application also remained in the Chancellery – for a very long time. Only now, on Thursday evening, did the green light come for the delivery of Marder tanks to Ukraine. More than eight months after the application.

The marathon in approving the Marder tanks is a symbol of the Chancellor's systematic hesitation in providing arms assistance to Ukraine. The federal government announced the decision in a solemn tone, which had been agreed in a telephone call with the US President. "President Biden and Chancellor Scholz expressed their joint determination to provide Ukraine with the necessary financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support for as long as necessary," the federal government said in a statement.

But criticism was not long in coming. "It's good that Germany is finally delivering tanks to Ukraine," wrote foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen (CDU) on Thursday evening in response to the Marder announcement on Twitter. “But we cannot be satisfied with the image that foreign policy paints. No sign of leadership. Again, action is only taken under pressure and when there is no other way.”

France announced on Wednesday evening that it would itself supply AMX-10 RC infantry fighting vehicles, and the USA announced the delivery of Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. In a campaign that was clearly coordinated among the three countries, Germany is also delivering. The Chancellor had always emphasized that Germany would only supply modern Western-style tanks if the allies did the same.

But there were always obvious contradictions in this justification. Last April, the federal government announced the delivery of anti-aircraft tanks of the Gepard type, which are also of western design. And whether one can describe the decades-old martens as "modern" is at least a matter of opinion.

The argument regularly put forward by the German government that Russia could see the delivery of tanks as an escalation was always illogical. Infantry fighting vehicles are primarily used for the safe transport of soldiers - their firepower is less than that of the Gepard tanks or the Mars II multiple rocket launchers, which Germany has long supplied. The argument that it only wants to deliver in step with its allies has long since been dismissed by the USA. The US government has repeatedly made it clear that each of its allied countries is free to choose how it supplies arms to Ukraine. But Olaf Scholz stuck to his no to marten exports over the months.

It is unclear how quickly the armored personnel carriers will reach Ukraine. Rheinmetall began repairing the Martens on its own early on, so as not to lose any time before the federal government gave the go-ahead. 40 of the tanks went to Greece in October as part of a so-called ring exchange – Athens, for its part, sent 40 Soviet-design infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. So there should still be 60 of the Rheinmetall martens available for direct delivery to the Ukraine.

The federal government has not yet announced how many martens will be handed over to Kyiv. It is also unclear how many tanks have already been repaired by Rheinmetall. Another open question is whether the martens should go directly to the Ukraine or whether the Bundeswehr will deliver from its own stocks and then fill in the gaps with tanks from the industry. As the federal government announced on Thursday evening, Germany will train Ukrainian armed forces on the marten. This too will take time. Due to German hesitation, Ukraine had to wait many months for armored personnel carriers. During this time, Ukrainian soldiers often moved at high risk with unarmoured, partly civilian vehicles in the front area.

Olaf Scholz, however, remained true to the tactics with the Marder that he had already shown when delivering the cheetahs, the multiple rocket launchers or the air defense systems. He waits as long as possible and only delivers when the allies do so and the pressure on Germany becomes too great. The Chancellor obviously wants to take a middle position between those in his party and in the population who are demanding arms deliveries - and those who believe that the aid is unnecessarily prolonging the war.

At least the new ambassador of Ukraine in Germany, Oleksij Makejev, can now claim a first success in terms of arms deliveries. In contrast to his predecessor Andriy Melnyk, he has recently avoided publicly putting pressure on the federal government - and emphasizes that he is instead conducting constructive negotiations behind the scenes. It is difficult to judge whether the ambassador played a major role in the Marder decision and what exactly. One thing is certain: Makeyev, who took up his post in October, was privy to the details of the struggle for the Marder tanks long beforehand. Because he had previously been in Berlin during the case – as part of Wladimir Klitschko's delegation, which had called in vain at the Chancellery.