‘Give Ukraine tanks and jets’
Latvia has urged its Nato allies to bolster their arms shipments to Ukraine with modern, Western-made battle tanks and jets, in the hope of turning the tide of the conflict against
Russia.
In interviews with The Times, President Egils Levits and Defence Minister Artis Pabriks warned European partners against losing their resolve to face down Moscow because of hardship, war fatigue and high energy prices.
Six months into the war, Ukraine says it needs more sophisticated weapons systems from the West as it shifts to counter-offensive mode with a push to retake the southern city of Kherson from well-entrenched Russian forces.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also called on support from allies to stop the fighting around Europe’s largest nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhya, warning that it risks causing a ‘‘nuclear catastrophe’’.
On the eve of a visit to Berlin today, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal called for a ‘‘change in philosophy’’, saying his country’s backers needed to drop their reservations about delivering advanced battle tanks such as the M1 Abrams from the United States and the Germanmade Leopard 2.
Up to now, European states have sent older Soviet-era tanks, arguing that other models might embolden Ukraine to attack Russian territory or prove too complex for Ukrainian soldiers to master quickly.
However, Latvia, one of Ukraine’s most ardent European
supporters, said it was time to stop dithering over the question.
‘‘From a political perspective, I can say the West should hand over all the weapons Ukraine needs,’’ Levits said.
Pabriks went further, saying the West had encouraged Russian President Vladimir Putin by holding back because of exaggerated fears that Moscow might be provoked into a nuclear attack.
He argued that Nato should do everything short of sending in soldiers to fight Russian troops, and help Ukraine to take back the entirety of its sovereign
territory, including Crimea, ‘‘at a minimum’’.
‘‘If we want to end the war, if we want to provide grain for the Third World, if we simply want to live our lives as usual, the only way to go forward and to have peace is a Ukrainian victory.’’
Latvia, which spent 47 years under Soviet occupation and has been peppered with Russian disinformation and cyberattacks for a decade, has given 0.8 per cent of its GDP to Ukraine since the start of the war. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a think tank, this is a
larger proportion than any other country except Estonia. Relative to the size of its economy, Latvia’s contribution has been four times as big as Britain’s, 10 times Germany’s, and 20 times France’s.
■ Europe’s energy crisis is looming larger after Russian energy giant Gazprom said yesterday it couldn’t resume the supply of natural gas through a major pipeline to Germany for now.
The company cited what it said was a need for urgent maintenance work to repair key components, just hours before it had been due to restart deliveries.
The Russian state-run energy company had shut down the Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Thursday for what it said would be three days of maintenance.
The move is the latest development in a saga in which Gazprom has given technical problems as the reason for reducing gas flows through Nord Stream 1 – explanations that German officials have rejected as a cover for a political power play following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
European utilities have scrambled to find additional supply during the summer months to get ready for winter heating demands, buying expensive liquefied gas that comes by ship, while additional supplies have come by pipeline from Norway and Azerbaijan.
Fears of a winter shortage have eased somewhat as storage has increased, but a complete cutoff could present Europe with serious difficulties, analysts say.
Gazprom started cutting supplies through Nord Stream 1 in mid-June, blaming delays in the delivery of a turbine that had been sent to Canada for repairs. Canada has since allowed the turbine’s delivery to Germany, which has said that nothing stands in the way of it being sent to Russia.
In recent weeks, Nord Stream 1 has been running at only 20% of capacity.
Russia, which before the reductions started accounted for a bit more than a third of Germany’s gas supplies, has also reduced the flow of gas to other European countries that have sided with Ukraine in the war.