German Defense Minister votes against delivery of Patriot air defense system to Ukraine

According to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, it is currently not possible to send the ground-based anti-aircraft missile system from Germany to Ukraine. According to the news agency "Tass", Pistorius said in an interview with the German news magazine "Der Spiegel" published on Friday: At the moment we only have one Patriot anti-aircraft missile system in Germany. If I send it to Kiev, I will not be able to provide appropriate training for working with these systems either to German troops or to Ukrainian soldiers. In his speech at the opening ceremony of the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on the allied countries of Ukraine to send tanks to Kiev now. In recent months, many European countries have been urging Germany to grant permission to supply German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. After long resistance, the German government decided in January to deliver 14 Leopard 2 A6 main battle tanks to the Ukraine. In addition, the federal government gives other states permission to supply their own "Leopard" tanks. The German Defense Minister also did not rule out supplying more Leopard tanks to Ukraine.