Ukraine will receive fewer rocket launchers than initially planned

Created: 06/15/2022, 22:12

A Mars II rocket launcher in the Alb barracks.

© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa

Just two weeks ago, the federal government said Germany would deliver four powerful multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine.

The number must now be corrected.

Brussels - Germany will initially deliver only three Mars II multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine instead of four.

"With this levy, I have gone to the limit of what I can do in order not to endanger the fact that we can no longer guarantee national and alliance defense as the Bundeswehr," said Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) after consultations with the international Contact group for the coordination of arms sales to Ukraine.

Lambrecht also pointed out that in addition to Germany, the USA and Great Britain also made multiple rocket launchers available to Ukraine.

According to their information, four systems are supplied by the USA and three by Great Britain.

At the beginning of June, on the fringes of a general debate in the Bundestag, government circles said that Germany would deliver four Mars II multiple rocket launchers.

At the time, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced a significant increase in arms deliveries to Ukraine.

The Medium Artillery Rocket System (Mars) can fire missiles of different modes of action - such as guided rockets with a GPS system or mine-ejecting rockets to block sections of terrain.

The launch batteries with a combat load of twelve rockets are mounted on tracked vehicles that can travel at speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour.

According to the Bundeswehr, the missiles used by Germany have a range of up to 84 kilometers.

According to Lambrecht, "several hundred" of them will initially be delivered to Ukraine.

"This is the route that is responsible," said the SPD politician.

According to your information, Germany will also take care of the training of the Ukrainian soldiers for the system and the supply of spare parts.

Training for Ukrainian soldiers

According to Lambrecht, training for the Ukrainian soldiers is to begin in June.

The systems could then be delivered to Ukraine “at the end of July or beginning of August”.

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There was initially no reaction from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj to the announcements about the delivery of the ten multiple rocket launchers from the USA, Great Britain and Germany.

Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak wrote on Twitter on Monday that Ukraine needed 300 such systems, among other equipment, in order to achieve "equality of arms" in the war against Russia.

US Chief of Staff Mark Milley said in Brussels, with a view to the comparatively small number of multiple rocket launchers, that these systems are very precise and therefore very effective.

"If they use the weapon properly and use it properly, they should be able to take out a significant number of targets - and that will make a difference."

The Russians are numerically superior on paper, Milley said.

But war is not just a numbers game, what matters is how forces and material are used.

Russia fires shells in large numbers without necessarily achieving the desired military effect.

"The Ukrainians, on the other hand, use much better artillery technology." And that's having an effect.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin defended the arms deliveries from the United States and other Western partners in general against criticism from Kyiv that the armaments aid was insufficient and coming too slowly.

When you're in the middle of a fight, "you can never get enough and you can never get enough fast," he said in Brussels.

He knows this from his own experience.

He can therefore understand the Ukrainians.

But the US is doing “everything humanly possible” to provide Ukraine with everything it needs.

dpa