Johnson weighs in over tanks for Ukraine
BORIS JOHNSON yesterday added to the pressure on Germany to authorise tank deliveries to Ukraine during a surprise visit to Kyiv.
The former prime minister said “this is the moment to double down, and to give the Ukrainians all the tools they need” after touring the bombed suburbs of Ukraine’s capital.
Mr Johnson, whose firm support for Ukraine has made him highly popular in the country, was greeted by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky outside his presidential office. In a video, Mr Zelensky thanks Mr Johnson for Britain’s aid as the two sit face-to-face in a gilded conference room.
Ukrainian officials have urged Berlin to “think faster” about delivering Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine or at least allowing other countries to export them.
On Friday, Boris Pistorius, the new German defence secretary, said it could take a “month” for Berlin to reach a decision on releasing the Leopard 2s, which Kyiv says it desperately needs to win the war. Last night, Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister, said it would “not stand in the way” if Poland requests to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine adding “for the moment the question has not been asked”.
Mr Johnson’s words, which will be interpreted as a jibe at Berlin, came as Chancellor Olaf Scholz once again dodged questions of whether Germany will allow tank deliveries.
Mr Scholz refused to be drawn on the subject at a Paris summit commemorating the 60th anniversary of a landmark treaty of friendship between France and Germany signed two decades after the Second World War in a gesture of peace and reconciliation.
“We fear this war is going to last a long time,” he said, adding that Germany will only act “in close co-ordination with allies” including France and the US. However, Emmanuel Macron, standing alongside Mr Scholz at a press conference in the Sorbonne, indicated that Paris was considering sending heavy armour.
The French president, who earlier this month agreed to export AMX-10 RC light tanks, said he had ordered the defence ministry to examine if it could send the Leclerc main battle tank.
“Nothing is excluded,” he said but cautioned the delivery would only be sanctioned if it did not “escalate” the conflict.
Britain authorised the transfer of 14 Challenger tanks to Ukraine earlier this month and had hoped Berlin would join an international coalition delivering more vehicles to the battlefield.
Number 10 yesterday sought to play down suggestions of a split with Mr Johnson over the visit to Kyiv, his first since he was ousted as prime minister.
Rishi Sunak earlier this month said he would “work intensively with international partners” to deliver support.
‘We fear this war is going to last a long time. Germany will only act in close co-ordination with allies’
AMERICAN officials read “the riot act” to Germany after chancellor Olaf Scholz’s refusal to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, it has been reported.
The reports of a furious dressing down came as Poland suggested it and other Nato allies may organise their own “tank alliance” without Berlin in response to the refusal.
Ukraine says it needs modern Western main battle tanks to push Russia out of occupied territory. The German government on Friday dashed hopes of a tank deal when it refused to either send its own Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine or grant re-export licences to allies who also operate the vehicle.
While Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, publicly defended Germany on Friday, insisting Berlin was a “reliable ally” and “we could all do more”, he privately engaged in a “tense” exchange with Wolfgang Schmidt, the German chancellor’s chief of staff, Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.
Germany has said it will only allow the export of Leopard 2 tanks if the United States also supplies its own Abrams tanks to Ukraine. Mr Austin reportedly argued in vain that deploying the US tank would be unnecessarily difficult when there are hundreds of Leopard 2s already in Europe.
Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor to US President Joe Biden, read “the riot act” to Jens Plotner, Mr Scholz’s foreign policy advisor, the paper reported.
About 50 countries pledged to provide Kyiv with billions of dollars worth of equipment at a meeting in Ramstein, Germany.
But Boris Pistorius, the new German defence minister, resisted pressure from allies over the tanks, saying: “We still cannot say when a decision will be taken, and what the decision will be, when it comes to the Leopard tank.”
Der Spiegel reported yesterday that the German army has already come up with a list of 19 Leopard 2s that it could send if the order was given.
Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister of Poland, said yesterday that Mr Scholz’s position was “unacceptable” and hinted Warsaw could find a way to export the tanks without German permission.
If Berlin refuses to supply the tanks to Ukraine, “we will set up a ‘small coalition’ of countries ready to donate some of their modern equipment, their modern tanks”, he added.
Poland says it is discussing the matter with around 15 countries.