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 defence 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.

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.

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.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticised German government hesitation to supply modern Leopard tanks again, with reports indicating Berlin will only provide them if the US offers its Abrams tanks as well. On Thursday, Zelenskyy, via video conference, told a panel that included Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the former UK leader Boris Johnson on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that he "would like to thank again our partners." He added, "At the same time, here are times where we shouldn't hesitate or shouldn't compare. When someone says, 'I will give tanks if someone else will also share tanks.' I don't think this is the right strategy to go with."

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