Germany's new defense minister, Boris Pistorius, officially took office on Thursday at a time when Germany is under growing pressure from Western allies to allow German-made battle tanks to be used in Ukraine to strengthen its defense against Russia's invasion.

Pistorius takes over from Christine Lambrecht, who announced her resignation on Monday after a series of blunders.

German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier presented a certificate of appointment to Pistorius, who until now was interior minister of Lower Saxony, and wished him luck, adding that he was taking over during Germany's most dangerous period in a long time.

Germany vows to support Ukraine

Steinmeier, who mainly plays a ceremonial role in the German political system, also stressed that Germany would continue to provide military support to Ukraine and would help "in the reconstruction of a battered country."

"These are not normal times, we have a war raging in Europe. Russia is waging a brutal war of annihilation on a sovereign country, on Ukraine," Pistorius said after the ceremony. 

"Our task is to make the Bundeswehr strong now, it is about deterrence, effectiveness and readiness," he added.

Meeting with US counterpart

Pistorius met US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin later on Thursday.

Pistorius said that Germany would work to support Ukraine's fight for "freedom and territorial independence" along its allies.Austin called Germany a "true friend" of the United States. He thanked Berlin for its aid to Ukraine as well as logistical support in NATO’s reinforcement of its eastern flank.

On Friday, defense leaders from around 50 countries, many of them NATO countries, will gather at the Ramstein Air Base to discuss how to supply Kyiv with more weapons.

According to US officials, Austin will press Pistorius to allow for the transfer of German-made Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine. "The Secretary will be pressing the Germans on this," one senior US defense official told Reuters.

Kyiv has been calling on Germany to provide its modern Leopard 2 battle tanks in order to push back Russian forces who invaded Ukraine nearly a year ago. Some European countries, such as Poland and Finland, have already agreed to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine but need German approval to re-export them.

Germany's tank debate goes on

The tanks issue poses a dilemma in relations between the two countries.

A German government source told Reuters that Germany will allow German-made tanks to be sent to Ukraine to help its defense against Russia if the US agrees to send its own tanks.

However, US officials publicly and privately insist that Washington has no plans to send US-made tanks to Ukraine for now, arguing that they would be too difficult for Kyiv to maintain and would require a huge logistical effort to simply run.

One US defense official told Reuters that supplying Ukraine with German-made Leopard tanks made the most sense as a number of countries already had them and were willing to transfer them quickly.

dh/ar (dpa, Reuters)