Ukraine: We need Western weapons
Moscow warns of ‘dangerous escalation’ if long range arms are sent
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.”
Ukraine yesterday intensified pressure on Western allies to provide heavier weapons and Leopard tanks to step up the fight against Russia ahead of a major donor meeting.
The Kremlin swiftly warned against an “extremely dangerous” escalation if the West — long fearful of getting into a full-blown war with nuclear-armed Russia — sent longer range weapons to Kyiv.
Addressing the annual World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky singled out Germany for its hesitance to supply its modern Leopard tanks - unless the United States also gives tanks.
“There are times where we shouldn’t hesitate,” Zelensky said via video-link.
“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.”
Volodymyr Zelensky | Ukraine President
Leopard tanks
Zelensky’s foreign and defence ministers subsequently echoed his plea, urging allies to “considerably” boost arms deliveries and calling on countries that have Leopard tanks, including Germany and Turkey, to send them.
“We appeal to all partner states... to considerably reinforce their practical contribution,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said in a joint statement.
Western partners fear that Ukraine could use long-range weapons to hit deep inside Russian territory or Crimea a peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014 — despite Kyiv promising it would not do so.
‘Whole new level’
In Moscow, the Kremlin warned of escalating the conflict to a “whole new level” if the West answers Ukraine’s latest calls.
“Potentially, this is extremely dangerous,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“It will mean bringing the conflict to a whole new level, which, of course, will not bode well from the point of view of global and pan-European security,” he added.