Supporters of German arms deliveries to Ukraine belong to two camps.

Christine Lambrecht (SPD) is one of the cautious, if only because of her office.

As Defense Minister, she oversees Germany's contribution to NATO's eastern flank.

Lambrecht said last week after a meeting of the Ukraine contact group that it had "reached the limits" of what it could do without jeopardizing alliance defenses.

She had just announced the latest German commitment: three MARS II multiple rocket launchers – one fewer than had been considered in government circles at the beginning of June.

Lorenz Hemicker

Editor in Politics

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On the other side is a broad front of politicians from the CDU, FDP and Greens, military experts and the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, who is always present in the media.

She takes the view that what Germany is delivering is too little and too late to help Ukraine in its freedom struggle against Russia.

Some of them also refer to other states that have done better.

There is no overview of all deliveries

The question of how much Germany supports Ukraine militarily compared to other countries is not easy to answer.

There is no publicly accessible table that lists exactly what the states are delivering, when and in what quantities - perhaps there shouldn't be one either.

Instead, there is a considerable number of more or less well-maintained overview lists on the Internet, an even larger number of notifications from government agencies in the supporter states, sometimes with vague, sometimes very specific information, and lots of tweets.

A few days ago, the latest update of the "Ukraine Support Tracker", an analysis by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), presented what is probably the most useful approximation to date of what 37 states have promised Ukraine so far, including all EU members and the G 7. The IfW records all aid that was announced between January 24 and June 7 of this year.

As for Germany's military support for Ukraine, the analysis reveals two things.

Measured by the value of the announcements, Germany is one of the most important supporters of Ukraine.

In terms of military aid, which includes both weapons and money for armaments purchases, Berlin ranks fourth with payments worth 1.39 billion euros, behind the USA (23.96 billion euros), the United Kingdom (2.38 billion euros). ) and Poland (1.7 billion euros).

Canada follows at a distance in fifth place.

Even if only the promised arms deliveries are considered, without taking into account the promised money for the purchase of armaments, Germany is still in fourth place.

However, the picture changes significantly as soon as only the weapons deliveries that have taken place are added up.

Then Germany is only average.

Measured by the volume of commitments, the federal government has delivered just 35 percent of the weapons.

According to the IfW, this is the lowest value among the most important donor nations.

The cause of the gap is obviously the heavy (and expensive) weapons that Germany has promised.

These are seven self-propelled howitzers 2000, 50 "Gepard" anti-aircraft tanks, three "MARS II" rocket launchers and an "Iris-T" missile defense system.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said in an interview last week that the systems would arrive in time to support Ukraine in the fight in Donbass.

But by the beginning of June not a single one of them had been there.

Other countries have higher rates

The government refers to procurement problems with ammunition, the duration of training and delivery times in the industry.

That may be the case, but many European countries are faster.

Poland, which provides the most arms after the United States, has already met its quota 100 percent.

The rates are the same for France, Italy, Canada and Norway, while for the United Kingdom and the Baltic States they are 90 percent or more.

The German weapons do not actually contain political explosive power.

The federal government only supplies systems that the Americans have previously promised.

A reference to the complexity of the weapons does not consistently stand up to closer inspection.

Western artillery was already being delivered in large numbers, mainly howitzers of various types.

The armaments researcher Pieter Wezeman from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute considers many of the arguments with which the German government justifies the slow deliveries to be protective claims.

"There is simply a deep-rooted reluctance in Germany to supply weapons," says the Dutchman in an interview with the FAZ. Ways to support the Ukrainians faster and with significantly more heavy weapons could be found.

Soldiers experienced in war could shorten the training, they would not have to master the systems completely.

Germany could also do more with regard to the weapons that the Bundeswehr has at its disposal.

The argument that Germany cannot give away tanks that it needs for itself shows a "lack of flexibility," Wezeman said.

Things got moving on Tuesday.

The federal government published a list of all military support services that have been delivered and are being prepared.

According to government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit, you are following the procedures of your closest allies.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced on Twitter that the promised self-propelled howitzers 2000 are now in the possession of the Ukrainian military.