The Jerusalem Post

Poland seeks coalition to send tanks to Ukraine

Germany hints at approval as allies put on pressure • Zelensky grapples with corruption scandal

- • By PAWEL FLORKIEWIC­Z

WARSAW/KYIV (Reuters) – Poland said on Monday it would ask Germany for permission to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine - and would send them whether or not Berlin agreed as long as other countries did too.

The Kyiv government desperatel­y wants the German-made Leopard 2 tank to break through Russian lines and recapture territory this year.

Pressure on Berlin – which must approve re-exports of the Leopard – also came from the EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels. Latvia’s foreign minister said “there are no good arguments” why the battle tanks could not be provided.

The issue has dominated recent discussion­s among Western allies about how much and what sort of material aid they should give Ukraine as the first anniversar­y of the Russian invasion nears.

Germany’s foreign minister appeared to hold the door open to approval of such shipments on Sunday when she said Berlin would not stand in the way if Poland wanted to do so.

Both sides are believed to be planning spring offensives to break a deadlock in what has become a war of attrition in eastern and southern Ukraine. Current fighting is centered on the town of Bakhmut in the East, where Russia’s Wagner mercenarie­s and Ukrainian forces have been locked in battle.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile was grappling with a corruption scandal that could dampen Western enthusiasm for his government.

A newspaper reported that the Ukrainian military had allegedly secured food at highly inflated prices, and a deputy minister resigned after an investigat­ion into allegation­s he accepted a bribe.

Ukrainian officials have been pleading with Western allies to supply them with Leopard tanks for months, but Germany has held back from sending them or allowing other NATO countries to re-export them.

After Ukrainian advances in the second half of 2022, front lines have been largely frozen in place for two months, despite heavy losses on both sides. Ukraine says Western tanks would give its ground troops the mobility, protection and firepower to break through Russian defensive lines and resume their advance.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, whose country neighbors Ukraine, said on Monday Warsaw would ask Germany for permission to re-export tanks to Ukraine.

But he added, “Even if we did not get this approval... we would still transfer our tanks together with others to Ukraine. The condition for us at the moment is to build at least a small coalition of countries.”

Western allies pledged billions of dollars in weapons for Ukraine last week but failed to persuade Germany to lift its veto on providing the tanks.

IN AN APPARENT shift in Germany’s position, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday her government would not block Poland if it tries to send its Leopards. Arriving in Brussels on Monday, Baerbock declined to elaborate on those comments or say if she had been speaking for the whole government. She said it was important to “do everything we can to defend Ukraine.”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrat Party argues the West should avoid sudden moves that might escalate the war. But a number of allies reject that position, saying Russia is already fully committed to its assault on Ukraine.

“At this point there are no good arguments why battle tanks cannot be provided,” Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said. “The argument of escalation does not work, because Russia continues

escalating.”

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergi­s said the tanks should not be held up one more day, while Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said Russia could win the war if Europeans “don’t help Ukraine with what they need now.”

American lawmakers pushed their government on Sunday to export M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine, saying even a symbolic number would help push European allies to do the same.

Britain has said it will supply 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron said he did not rule out the possibilit­y of sending Ukraine Leclerc tanks.

Leopards are seen as the best option for Ukraine because they are more widely available than the British and French tanks and use less fuel than the turbine-powered US Abrams.

The Kremlin said on Monday the splits in Europe over whether to provide tanks to Kyiv showed there was increasing “nervousnes­s” within the NATO military alliance.

“But of course all countries which take part, directly or indirectly, in pumping weapons into Ukraine and in raising its technologi­cal level bear responsibi­lity” for continuing the conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The EU foreign ministers meeting was also due to discuss more military aid for Ukraine. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he hoped they would approve another €500 million ($545m.) tranche of support.

Since its invasion on February 24, 2022, which it has cast as defending itself from an aggressive West, Russia has taken control of parts of Ukraine it says it will never return. Ukraine has said that restoring its territoria­l integrity is not open for negotiatio­n.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking on a visit to South Africa, said Ukraine was rejecting peace talks and the longer this continued, the harder it would be to resolve the conflict.

Russia has repeatedly said it is open to talks but Ukraine and the United States say they see no sign from Moscow that it is serious about negotiatin­g, and suspect it of trying to buy time to regroup after a series of defeats in the war.

Also on Monday, Russia’s foreign intelligen­ce service (SVR) accused Ukraine of storing Western-supplied arms at nuclear power stations. It provided no evidence and Reuters was unable to verify the claims.

 ?? (Johanna Geron/Reuters) ?? A PROTESTER HOLDS a placard in support of Ukraine during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels yesterday.
(Johanna Geron/Reuters) A PROTESTER HOLDS a placard in support of Ukraine during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels yesterday.

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