Allies to meet on Ukraine after new pledges
Govts to send APCs and defence system
Officials from 50 nations were set to gather in Germany yesterday to discuss support for the next stage of the Russia-Ukraine war, one day after the US and European allies announced substantial new arms shipments.
The Pentagon on Thursday released a long list of US$2.5 billion (81 billion baht) worth of supplies for Ukrainian forces, including Bradley fighting vehicles, armoured personnel carriers, air defence systems and tens of thousands of rockets and artillery rounds.
Britain announced it would send 600 Brimstone missiles, Denmark said it would donate 19 French-made Caesar howitzers and Sweden promised its Archer artillery system, which was requested by Kyiv for months.
The arms announcements came as defence and other officials from some 50 countries, including all 30 Nato members, prepared to meet in Ramstein to discuss what further support they could offer Kyiv.
Looking ahead to the talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Kyiv expected “strong decisions” and “a powerful military support package from the United States”.
The US and Germany have so far stopped short of granting his requests for their most modern battle tanks, which the Kremlin warned would amount to an “extremely dangerous” escalation if sent by the West.
Germany has been cautious about
providing heavy weapons for Ukraine, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing mounting pressure within Europe to authorise exports of German-made Leopard tanks ahead of the talks.
At the annual World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Mr Scholz told US Congress members that Germany would supply heavy tanks to Ukraine if the US sent tanks too, a senior
US lawmaker told AFP on Thursday.
But Berlin left the door open to letting allies supply Ukraine with the requested tanks, saying Thursday it would “become clear in the next few hours or tomorrow morning”.
Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas told AFP that “some countries will send” Leopard tanks to Ukraine, promising “more news
tomorrow” at the talks.
Visiting Kyiv, European Union chief Charles Michel said he believed that tanks “must be delivered”.
And Mr Zelensky, addressing Davos via video link, said that “there are times where we shouldn’t hesitate”. “When someone says ‘I will give tanks if someone else will also share tanks’... I don’t think this is the right strategy to go with.”
As the pledges came in, senior Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said it was “time to stop trembling at [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin and take the final step”.
“Ukraine needs tanks; tanks — the key to end war properly,” he tweeted.
Explaining Germany’s reluctance,
Sudha David-Wilp, the Berlin office director of German Marshall Fund, told AFP the country “would rather be in the middle of the pack than at the front line”.
“I think they definitely want to support Ukraine but... Chancellor Scholz and Germany as a country are cautious by nature,” she said.