Germany to send PzH 2000 howitzers to Ukraine
More heavy weapons are being sent from Europe to Ukraine.
-
A German-made PzH 2000 howitzer
In response to Ukraine's pleas for more heavy weaponry, Germany will send Kiev two to three more self-propelled Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers, according to German media on Friday.
Ukraine has been asking Europe for 18 German-made PzH 2000 howitzers to fully arm their artillery battalion, according to the DPA news agency. Germany has sent 7 howitzers and the Netherlands donated 5.
Read more: +50,000 sign petition urging Scholz to stop heavy weapons supplies
According to DPA, citing people close to the German Foreign Ministry, Berlin told Kiev it would give a few more weapons as long as other EU partners joined the procurement plans.
The German foreign ministry has been in contact with Amsterdam and other countries to get 6 more 155mm weapons to Kiev.
Russia has recently warned that any military cargoes will be dealt with like military targets.
Read more: Biden: US to send Ukraine advanced weapons
Half of Germans oppose sending heavy weapons to Ukraine
In April, according to the German Institute for New Social Answers, half of Germans are against delivering heavy arms to Ukraine, while 43% of respondents are in support of the deliveries. The poll comes at the request of Bild, a German news outlet.
Another poll, though similar, was held by the German Institute for Social Research and Statistical Analysis, Forsa. The poll showed that 51% of Germans supported delivering offensive arms to Ukraine, while 37% stood against it.
Earlier on April, 20 prominent cultural figures, German scientists, and politicians, including former Bundestag VP, Antje Vollmer, sent an open letter to Olaf Scholz to stop sending arms to Ukraine.
Those that sent the letter said that "Germany and other NATO countries have de facto made themselves a party to the war by delivering weapons," therefore Ukraine became "a battlefield for a conflict between NATO and Russia over the security order in Europe."
Scholz said that Germany will no longer be supplying weapons to Ukraine, as the German weapon inventories are too exhausted.
