A military expert called the possible disarmament of the German army for the sake of Kiev nonsense.

Germany's possible disarmament of its own army if Berlin agrees to send Kiev 30% of the Bundeswehr's aviation and ground equipment will look like nonsense. Military expert Alexei Leonkov told Izvestia about this on April 21.

On April 19, Ukraine's permanent representative to the United Nations, Andriy Melnyk, in an open letter published by the German newspaper Die Welt, demanded that German chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz transfer 30% of the Bundeswehr's aviation and land equipment, Taurus cruise missiles, and legislate the allocation of 0.5% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) to Kiev's military needs.

According to the expert, after the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, became convinced that the European Union (EU) was committed to continuing to support Kiev, he decided to "go all out", believing that he had the right to demand weapons from the so-called "coalition of the willing."

"And now he's demanding weapons from [their] regular army. <...> These are aviation equipment, such as Eurofighter Typhoon fighters, Tornado fighters, helicopters, Leopard 2 tanks, Puma infantry fighting vehicles, Marder. There is also a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS), which performs the same role as the American HIMARS and MLRS systems," Leonkov said.

He added that, according to estimates, Kiev is offering Berlin to part with 700 armored vehicles, and in the event of a conflict, it is the regular army and the mobilization reserve that enter into hostilities first. According to him, such a public appeal should be met with a reaction from the leader of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who had previously announced his readiness to send Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. The expert admitted that Merz's answer would be evasive.

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"Germany's mobilization reserves were left with almost no equipment. And we are already talking about the regular army. And in those statements that Germany broadcast, in the person of, for example, [German Defense Minister Boris] According to Pistorius, it is necessary to prepare for war, the disarmament of one's own regular army looks like some kind of nonsense, a paradox," Leonkov said.

The military expert concluded that Germany would not disarm its own regular army for the sake of Ukraine. France and Great Britain will also not agree to this, Leonkov believes.

On April 14, Merz announced its readiness to transfer Taurus missiles to Ukraine, subject to coordination with European partners. Alexey Didenko, head of the State Duma Committee on Regional Policy, told Izvestia that the words of the candidate for chancellor of Germany are a provocation and "adding oil to the fire." He noted that this statement is rather strange given the efforts currently being made to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and de-escalate it.

On April 16, Bloomberg reported that Merz's statement had exacerbated differences between the country's parties. The missile dispute is a sign that the center—left and conservative parties "will not be able to smooth over their differences easily," the newspaper noted. On April 19, Markus Zeder, Prime Minister of the German federal state of Bavaria and leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) party, said that Germany itself needs Taurus cruise missiles, just like drones and its own anti-missile shield.