Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) has described the German debate about Leopard main battle tanks as difficult for Ukraine to bear. "Germany is supporting Ukraine in a tremendous way," he told the "Leipziger Volkszeitung" (Tuesday). "I find it hard to accept that anyone who expresses concerns about the delivery of heavy weapons to the war zone is verbally attacked."

In the past eleven months, many constants in German security and foreign policy have been thrown overboard without replacing them with new principles, Kretschmer complained. The Christian Democrat has previously expressed serious concerns about the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, other CDU politicians have sharply criticized the federal government's continued hesitation to deliver Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine. The government is lagging behind with the decisions "and is losing so much trust in our partners," said defense politician Henning Otte of the German Press Agency. Instead of using strong leadership to persuade those states that had Leopard tanks to take coordinated action, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) only put the brakes "and isolates Germany". There should be no further delay.