‘Pathetic!’: Ex-Nato chief criticises Germany for failing to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine as backlash grows
- General Sir Richard Shirreff said Berlin was ‘ducking its responsibility’ to help
- Critics say German government fears Putin will respond by cutting off supplies
- READ MORE: President Zelensky pleads for tanks to stop Russian ‘evil’ as Germany is accused ‘unacceptable weakness’ by ex-NATO chief
Germany’s refusal to send tanks to Ukraine is ‘pathetic’ and threatens its ‘credibility as an ally’, a British former Nato chief warned last night.
General Sir Richard Shirreff told The Mail on Sunday that Berlin was ‘ducking its responsibility’ to help defeat Vladimir Putin’s army, as he compared the despotic Russian leader to Adolf Hitler.
‘Germany’s behaviour is absolutely calling into question its credibility as a Nato ally,’ he said.
His damning comments heaped further pressure on German chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has refused to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Berlin has also blocked other European nations from sending the German-made tanks.
General Sir Richard Shirreff told The Mail on Sunday that Berlin was ‘ducking its responsibility’ to help defeat Vladimir Putin ’s army
Firepower: German Leopard 2 tank at the heart of controversy. Berlin has blocked other European nations from sending the German-made tanks
Sir Richard, who was Nato’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said: ‘Germany has a particular responsibility because of its history, to help Ukraine defend itself against a bloodstained autocrat, prepared to inflict unspeakable suffering on a neighbour, because Germany has been here before. I would not draw too many parallels, there’s always a danger, but the last time anybody did this sort of behaviour is Hitler.
‘So Germany has a particular responsibility and it is ducking that responsibility, and if it is ducking this responsibility, then how reliable is Germany as a Nato ally, when called upon to implement Article 5, frankly? It is pathetic.’
Article 5 of the Nato treaty says an armed attack against any member should be considered an attack against all.
Critics say the German government does not want to send its tanks because it fears Putin will respond by cutting off supplies of gas and oil. The UK has pledged to send 14 Challenger 2 tanks.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, who attended a memorial service yesterday for officials who died in a helicopter crash in Kyiv this month, appealed for tanks at talks involving Western allies in Germany this weekend.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky attended a memorial service yesterday for officials who died in a helicopter crash in Kyiv this month
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has refused to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine
President Zelensky appealed for tanks at talks involving Western allies in Germany this weekend
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