Germany's foreign minister is pressuring Chancellor Olaf Scholz to decide as soon as possible whether to supply Ukraine with modern tanks.

Kyiv has said it would like to receive German Leopard 2 tanks, but Berlin has so far rejected the request, supplying other weapons such as howitzers and self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.

In an interview with the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the decision to supply modern battle tanks to Ukraine could only be made jointly by Germany's ruling three-party coalition and its international partners.

Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Green Party said Thursday that he expects Germany to deliver more "needed weapons" to Ukraine soon.

The far-right Alternative for Germany party, which is not part of the government, meanwhile warned against supplying tanks to Ukraine. "The war in Ukraine is not our war," said its co-leader Tino Hrupalla. Instead, he urged Germany to open the Nord Stream 2 pipeline so the country could import gas from Russia.