(new: Kühnert, Baltic states, British foreign minister, Russian parliamentary leader added)

BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The differences of opinion on the issue of supplying German battle tanks to Ukraine are growing into a public coalition spat. After FDP defense expert Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann publicly attacked Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the dispute over the battle tanks, SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur: "You don't make a policy in times of war in Europe in the style of indignation rituals or with gasps, but with clarity and reason."

The chairman of the Europe Committee in the Bundestag, Anton Hofreiter (Greens), told the newspapers of the Funke-Mediengruppe (Monday): "Of course, it's not just about Leopard 2, but this is a crucial support that Germany can offer." He added that training of Ukrainian soldiers on the Leopard must begin "now immediately" to avoid further delays.

At the Ukraine conference in Ramstein on Friday, Germany had not yet decided to deliver battle tanks to the war zone, despite considerable pressure from its allies. The German government also did not yet issue delivery permits to other countries for the German-made tanks. Hofreiter said: "Germany made a major mistake at Ramstein and lost further prestige as a result. This must now be corrected quickly."

The foreign ministers of the Baltic countries also called on Germany to supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine. "This is necessary to stop Russian aggression, help Ukraine and quickly restore peace in Europe," Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics wrote on Twitter on Saturday - saying he was also speaking on behalf of his counterparts from Estonia and Lithuania. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told the BBC on Sunday, "I'd like nothing better than to see the Ukrainians equipped with Leopard 2s."

However, U.S. President Joe Biden also seems similarly hesitant as Scholz on the battle tank issue. While the Americans have no objection in principle to the delivery of main battle tanks, they do not consider the provision of their own M1 Abrams to be sensible for practical reasons. The U.S. tanks would first have to be transported across the Atlantic, maintenance would be more costly, and they would consume too much fuel. The tanks use kerosene, an aviation fuel, not diesel like the Leopard and many of the Ukrainians' vehicles.

SPD Secretary General Kevin Kühnert defended Scholz. "Excessive criticism and personal hostility threaten to make the political discourse on our Ukraine aid drift further and further away from the facts. That is regrettable," he told the Rheinische Post newspaper (Monday). He said the cornerstones of Germany's Ukraine policy under Chancellor Scholz had been on the table for months for all the world to see and were unchanged. "We are not going it alone, we are preserving our own defense capabilities, we are not becoming a war party and we are not doing anything that harms the Western alliance more than Vladimir Putin," Kühnert said, referring to the Russian president.

Russian parliamentary leader Vyacheslav Volodin warned of a possible "tragedy of global proportions" in the event of battle tank deliveries to Ukraine. "The delivery of offensive weapons to the Kiev regime will lead to a global catastrophe," Volodin wrote Sunday on his channel on the Telegram messaging service. He said Russia would use even "more powerful weapons" if the U.S. and NATO countries supplied arms to Kiev that could be used to retake territory.

On Friday, Strack-Zimmermann had attacked Chancellor Scholz on ZDF's "heute journal," which in turn prompted a strong reaction from Mützenich. "Ms. Strack-Zimmermann and others are talking us into a military confrontation. The same people who call for going it alone with heavy battle tanks today will be clamoring for aircraft or troops tomorrow," Mützenich told the German Press Agency. "You don't make a policy in times of war in Europe in the style of indignation rituals or with gasps, but with clarity and reason."

Strack-Zimmermann had called Scholz's communication in particular on the issue of battle tank deliveries a "catastrophe," saying that on the one hand Germany was providing massive support to Ukraine, but the lack of a decision on battle tanks was creating a different impression. She told Tagesschau24 on Saturday, "If you don't want to deliver Leopard 2, then it must be explained why. Then it must be explained to Ukraine why."

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) told Bild am Sonntag when asked when the decision on Leopard tanks for Ukraine would be made: "We are in very close dialogue with our international partners, first and foremost with the United States, on this issue." He said that in order to be best prepared for possible decisions, he instructed his House on Friday to "check everything to the extent that we don't lose time unnecessarily if the worst comes to the worst." He also announced in the interview that he would travel to Ukraine as soon as possible, "probably even within the next four weeks."

Pistorius had taken office on Thursday after Christine Lambrecht resigned as head of department./hrz/DP/jha