(S+) Kiews Problem mit den deutschen Pannen-Panzern
www.spiegel.de
Mehrere von Deutschland gelieferte Panzer kämpfen nicht an der ukrainischen Front, sondern stehen in Reparaturhallen. Russischer Beschuss ist ein Grund dafür – aber nicht der einzige. Was steckt hinter dem Ausfall?

archive https://archive.ph/W8bFQ

A Ukrainian Armed Forces officer, whose brigade is fighting on Leopard-2, pointed out the fragility of the tracks, weakening their tension and leading to breakdowns and this is a disaster in combat conditions. Ukrainian soldiers have to constantly monitor this feature of German tanks.

A commission from Germany, which visited a repair centre in Lithuania for Leopards, was unpleasantly surprised by the number of equipment that failed due to defects.

Problems with logistics and lack of spare parts persist - even in Lithuania, far from the front, mechanics face problems when repairing Leopards.

A German officer admitted to Der Spiegel that German tanks wear out much faster in combat conditions. Based on the experience of the Bundeswehr in Mali, we can say that a mileage of 10,000 km in combat conditions is equal to 100,000 km in peacetime, the officer claims. Added to this is the problem of the need for complex maintenance of tanks, which must be carried out at the factory.

“Attempts at repair by the Ukrainian military lead to additional damage to the Leopards,” concludes a member of the German commission that visited Lithuania.

    • cfgaussian
      6·
      10 months ago

      That would be an outcome that the US would greatly benefit from since it would allow them to disentangle themselves from the Ukraine quagmire, try to also stop the conflict in the Middle East from spinning out of their control, and then devote all their attention to China.

      The problem is that the US does not have complete control over Kiev, and in some ways the tail is wagging the dog in that relationship. As i have pointed out, Kiev can and probably will continue to play stubborn since they realize that once they make a deal the US will drop them in favor of more important engagements.

      Out of self-preservation Zelensky cannot allow the conflict to end, and given that the US and EU have built him up to be too much of a heroic figure in the eyes of their people they cannot openly betray him now. What they need to do first is to destroy his image, to find a way to put the blame on him for losing the war.

      There have been rumors going around for a while that the US is telling Kiev they need to freeze the conflict by spring 2024 at the latest, threatening to expose massive corruption in the Zelensky administration if they do not obey. I don’t know how accurate the rumors are, and even if they are accurate it may be just a bluff.

      Another additional obstacle is that in the West there are still a lot of neocon hardliners who are utterly obsessed with Ukraine who will continue to call for more and more escalation and that Biden would need to fight against to push any kind of pragmatic solution through. And i don’t know if he has the political capital for that. His position is very weak already.

      I see no way out of this conundrum for the US. They cannot lose this proxy war without catastrophic consequences (dissolution of NATO is a real possibility) and the only thing they can do to delay their defeat is continue to escalate to more and more dangerous levels. Give Ukraine even more weapons and money and sink even deeper into the quagmire. And Europe’s situation is even worse…