Ukraine holds out hope to get tanks
As Germany mulls decision, frustration continues to mount
Pressure grew on Germany on Saturday to authorize the transfer of Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, even as Ukrainian officials signaled that they believed it would be a matter of time before the Germanmade tanks arrived.
In a joint statement on Twitter, the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania urged Germany to “provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine now.”
They added: “This is needed to stop Russian aggression, help Ukraine and restore peace in Europe quickly. Germany as the leading European power has special responsibility in this regard.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that time was of the essence.
“We will still have to fight for the supply of modern tanks, but every day we make it more obvious there is no alternative to making the decision on tanks,” he said in an overnight address, adding: “The only thing worth emphasizing is the time, the delivery time. Each agreement must be implemented as quickly as possible.”
Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said he was “optimistic” that Germany would decide to allow transfers of the Leopards and that his country’s troops would begin training on the tanks in Poland.
“Countries that already have Leopard tanks can begin training missions for our tank crews,” Reznikov told Voice of America’s Ukrainian service on Friday. “We will start with that, and we will go from there.”
Poland’s Defense Ministry did not immediately confirm Reznikov’s assertion, but Polish officials
have been among the most vociferous voices urging Germany to clear the way for Leopards. The Polish government has said it stands ready to send some of its own, though legally it needs Germany to sign off on any such move.
Many Western officials meeting Friday in Germany had hoped to reach a deal on sending the German-made tanks, which are stocked by many European countries. But the meeting ended without a decision from Germany, which has resisted sending its own Leopards to Ukraine or giving other countries that have them the necessary approval to export them.
Germany has also pushed for the United States to take the lead by sending some of its most advanced battle tanks — the M1 Abrams — but on Saturday criticism was largely falling on Berlin.
Ukraine’s appeals have taken on greater urgency with the approach of spring, when both sides to the conflict are preparing offensives, officials have said. And Russia’s recent claims to have captured the towns of Soledar and Klishchiivka — part of a broader push to seize the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine — have added to the pressure.
The war overall “is in a state of deadlock,” Britain’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday, but it warned that there was “a realistic possibility of local Russian advances around Bakhmut.”
In recent weeks, the West has pledged increasingly sophisticated weapons for Ukraine, agreeing to send Patriot missile systems and armored fighting vehicles, despite earlier fears that Russia would see the provision of those weapons as a provocation. But Westernmade tanks, which are far
more powerful than the fighting vehicles, have been a sticking point. Britain this past week confirmed it would send a small number of Challenger 2 tanks as part of wider efforts to persuade other Western nations to offer similar support.
Ukraine’s top military officer, Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, has said his forces need at least 300 tanks and 600 infantry fighting vehicles to counter the Russians this spring. But Germany has been reluctant to send in some of its Leopard 2 tanks without Washington’s pledging to send at least a token number of its M1 Abrams tanks, presenting a united front against Russia. Washington has argued against sending Abrams tanks, saying they use jet fuel and are difficult to maintain.
American and German officials made a point Friday of dismissing any suggestion of acrimony among the allies, though there are subtle signs of growing fissures. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, denied the Leopard dispute was linked to the Abrams tanks, but provided no explanation for what was stalling a deal.
Pistorius said he had ordered his ministry to begin an inventory of its Leopard tanks and to prepare to train Ukrainian soldiers in case of a future deal, noting that he would welcome similar preparations by other European countries.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who has been vocal about sending more weapons to Ukraine and was in Kyiv on Friday, said, using an expletive, that he was tired of the circus “surrounding who is going to send tanks and when are they going to send them.”
“To the Germans: Send tanks to Ukraine because they need them. It is in your own national interest that Putin loses in Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter. “To the Biden Administration: Send American tanks so that others will follow our lead.”
When asked Friday if he supported Poland’s call to send the Leopards, President Joe Biden was brief. “Ukraine is going to get all the help they need,” he said.
Also on Saturday, Zelenskyy met with families of those who died in a helicopter crash earlier last week.
Zelenskyy spoke with family members of seven killed Wednesday in Brovary. The helicopter carrying Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi and other top officials slammed into a building in the suburb of Kyiv, killing him and about a dozen other people, including a child on the ground.