Russia and Ukraine flashpoint

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Ryuu96 said:

Scholz Holds up German Tank Deliveries to Ukraine – Politico

Sigh

Ukraine is about to start their bloodiest and hardest battle of the entire war, the battle for Donbas, they have no time for this shit, if Russia encircles Ukrainian forces in the Donbas then it'll be lost forever, hurry the fuck up with this stuff.

To be fair, this headline is pretty misleading.

1. The vehicle in question is the Marder, an IFV, not a tank, even though it is constantly called one in the article.
2. It's about unused, decommissioned vehicles just standing around at the factory, so they would need to be refurbished and possibly adapted to Ukrainian needs first before they can see any action.
3. They are very different to what Ukrainian troops are used to, so they would need to get trained first. Where should they do that? Can Ukraine afford to sent several hundred of their best men and women to Germany to get trained for any prolonged time in the midst of this war? And how long would that take? (btw, serious question, anyone has an idea how long it takes to fully train crews for IFVs?)
4. The only tanks in question in this article is that Rheinmetall, the company who produces the Marder, also produces the Leopard tanks, and that there are ongoing talks about sending some of those to Ukraine, too.

Scholz is waiting for a common European agreement on sending heavy material to Ukraine, so yes, he is delaying this decision. But even if this wouldn't be the case, it would take many months, if not several years, before those could be employed in active combat. In other words, they are probably useless for the current conflict unless it drags on into at least next year and more for re-equipping the Ukrainian army after the war.

This is not to say that I don't agree that time is of the essence and that Scholz shouldn't stop holding off this delivery, as he absolutely should. It's just that when all the logistics are taken into consideration that it will take a long time either way before Ukraine can actually make good use these vehicles, that's all.