Germany confirms it will send battle tanks to Ukraine but says it will not ‘become a party to the war’. Russia calls it a ‘disastrous plan’
- US announced it will send M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine as Germany confirms it will provide the Leopard 2
- Moscow said the tanks will ‘burn down just like all the others’ and that the cost will fall on the shoulders of Europe’s taxpayers
After weeks of hesitation that saw growing impatience among Germany’s allies, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Wednesday that his government would provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 battle tanks and approve requests by other countries to do the same.
In a statement, the government said it would initially provide Ukraine with one company of Leopard 2 A6 tanks, which comprises 14 vehicles, from its own stocks. The goal is for Germany and its allies to provide Ukraine with a total of two battalions, or 88 tanks.
Scholz said Germany was “acting in close coordination” with its allies, while Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said: “We will not become a party to the war, we will make sure of that.”
02:51
German government approves delivery of tanks to Ukraine
The long-awaited decision came after US officials said a preliminary agreement had been struck for the United States to send M1 Abrams tanks to help Kyiv push back Russian forces entrenched in the east almost a year since the start of the war.
Kyiv welcomed Germany’s decision to green light the tank deliveries to Ukraine.
“The first step on tanks has been taken. Next – the ‘tank coalition’. We need a lot of Leopards,” the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration Andriy Yermak said on social media, referring to other countries that have said they would also send the tanks with Berlin’s approval.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki thanked Germany for approving the delivery of the tanks to Ukraine and providing a company of them from Berlin’s own stocks.
“Thank you @Bundeskanzler (German Chancellor) Olaf Scholz. The decision to send Leopards to Ukraine is a big step towards stopping Russia. Together we are stronger,” Morawiecki said on Twitter.
Ex-Wagner fighter faces ‘brutal death’ if deported from Norway: rights group
France’s President Emanuel Macron also welcomed Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s decision.
“France welcomes the German decision, which extends and amplifies the support we have provided with the delivery of the AMX10 RC”, the Elysee said in a statement, referring to a France-made lighter combat vehicle which Paris is also aiming to send to Ukraine.
“German-made tanks will face off against Russian tanks in Ukraine once more,” said Ekkehard Brose, head of the German military’s Federal Academy for Security Policy.
He added that this was “not an easy thought” for Germany, which takes its responsibility for the horrors of World War II seriously.
“And yet it is the right decision,” Brose said, arguing that it was up to Western democracies to help Ukraine stop Russia’s military campaign.
The US is also finalising its plans to provide M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, two American officials told Reuters on Tuesday.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an announcement could come as early as Wednesday. A third source familiar with the matter said the US commitment could total about 30 Abrams tanks to be delivered over the coming months.
They said the Abrams would likely be procured through a fund known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which allows President Joe Biden’s administration to get weapons from industry rather than from existing US weapons stocks.
Germany and the United States had held back on providing heavy armour, wary of moves that could give the Kremlin reason to widen the conflict.
Henry Kissinger softens stance on Ukraine joining Nato
Moscow has warned that supplies of modern offensive weaponry to Ukraine will escalate the war, with some Russian officials warning that Kyiv’s allies were leading the world into a “global catastrophe”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described German and US intentions with the tanks as a “a rather disastrous plan”.
“I am convinced that many specialists understand the absurdity of this idea,” Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.
“Simply because of technological aspects, this is a rather disastrous plan. The main thing is, this is a completely obvious overestimation of the potential [the supply of tanks] would add to the armed forces of Ukraine. It is yet another fallacy, a rather profound one,” the Kremlin official said.
Peskov predicted “these tanks will burn down just like all the other ones. … Except they cost a lot, and this will fall on the shoulders of European taxpayers” he added.
Earlier, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, hit back at reports about Washington mulling supplying tanks, saying that such a move would show “the real aggressor in the current conflict”.
“If the United States decides to supply tanks, it will be impossible to justify such step using arguments about ‘defensive weapons’,” he said, according to a post on the Russian embassy’s official Facebook page.
“This would be another blatant provocation against the Russian Federation.”
Ukraine says Russia strike pattern suggests it is low on ballistic missiles
Russian President Vladimir Putin casts the “special military operation” that began when his troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 last year as a defensive and existential battle against an aggressive and arrogant West.
Ukraine and the West call Russia’s actions an unprovoked land grab to subdue a fellow former Soviet republic that Moscow regards as an artificial state.
Reporting by Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Reuters
