Germany Sends Ukraine The Strongest PzH 2000 Howitzers

Germany sends Ukraine seven hundred PzH 2000 heavy self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine facing a Russian invasion. As reported by Reuters on Friday (16/5/2022), the planned delivery was outside the five artillery systems that the Dutch government had promised. On 16/5/2022, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Germany reversed its long-standing policy of not sending heavy weapons to war zones last week. But the policy was scrapped following pressure at home and abroad to help Ukraine fend off Russian attacks. "The heavy weapons will come out of the Bundeswehr arsenal and be delivered as soon as they are out of maintenance over the next few weeks," Lambrecht and his defense chief, general Eberhard Zorn, told reporters in the Sliac city of Sliac. According to Zorn, the training of the first group of about 20 Ukrainian soldiers in Panzerhaubitze 2000 is expected to begin next week in the German city of Idar-Oberstein. He added that these troops had experience operating Soviet-made howitzers. Ukraine's demand for heavy weapons has increased since Moscow shifted its heaviest weapons to the east and south of the country, after failing to capture the capital Kyiv.