Unspoken rule: Western countries will not ship their own tanks to Ukraine

Germany has enough tanks to ship to Ukraine, but Berlin is not going to share them due to an unspoken agreement among Western countries, columnist Andreas Kluth said in an article for Bloomberg.

According to him, no NATO partner country has sent Western-made battle tanks to Ukraine yet. Berlin will not make such a decision unless NATO and EU allies approve of it first.

Germany does not want to be the first Western country to be accused of escalating the conflict in Ukraine. This is now the unspoken rule that Western countries observe, Kluth wrote.

Another reason for Germany's reluctance lies in the country's defense capability. Germany has a limited number of tanks and spare parts for them. Berlin will not compromise its own combat readiness, the author of the article said.

In early September, Die Welt columnist Christoph Schiltz said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky only wanted to lift the morale of his military men when he said that Ukraine would take the Crimea back. The international community has long come to terms with Crimea's entry into Russia, the journalist said adding that Ukraine would not be able to "win the conflict" with the support that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz provides.

According to Schiltz, the German chancellor fears the Russian president.

For this reason, Christoph Schiltz assumed, Germany is not ready to ship Leopard 2 tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.