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European allies will send about 80 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, Germany says

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BERLIN — Germany and its European partners plan to “quickly” send two Leopard 2 tank battalions to Ukraine — suggesting about 80 vehicles — the government in Berlin announced Wednesday, adding that Germany would provide one company of 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks “as a first step.”
Other countries likely to send Leopards to the war against Russia include Poland, Spain, Norway and Finland.
The decision by Chancellor Olaf Scholz — which emerged on Tuesday evening — marks a decisive moment in Western support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, which entered its 12th month this week and could soon heat up further as Moscow is expected to launch a new offensive.

Following Berlin’s move, other European countries like Spain and Norway reportedly agreed to join the Leopard tank alliance.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, welcomed the German announcement as a “first step.”
“Leopards are very much needed,” he said on Telegram.
Zelenskyy himself also welcomed the move on Twitter. “Sincerely grateful to the Chancellor and all our friends in” Germany, he said.
Russia’s Ambassador to Germany Sergei Nechaev said in a statement the decision was “extremely dangerous,” and took the conflict “to a new level of confrontation.”
Kyiv had long urged Germany and other partners to supply its army with the powerful German-built Leopard 2 tank, but Scholz hesitated to take the decision, partly out of concern that it could drag Germany or NATO into the conflict. He remained adamant that such a move had to be closely coordinated and replicated by Western allies, most notably the United States.
The news of an imminent announcement by U.S. President Joe Biden to send “a significant number” of American M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine facilitated the chancellor’s decision. Scholz had come under huge pressure from European partners like Poland, as well as his own coalition partners in government, to no longer block the delivery of the German tank. Since they are German-made, their re-export needed the approval of the German government.
“This decision follows our well-known line of supporting Ukraine to the best of our ability. We act internationally in a closely coordinated manner,” Scholz said in a written statement. He is also due to address the German parliament at 1 p.m. on Wednesday to further explain his decision.
“The goal is to quickly form two tank battalions with Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine,” a German government spokesperson said.
“As a first step, Germany will provide a company of 14 Leopard-2 A6 tanks from Bundeswehr stocks. Other European partners will also hand over Leopard-2 tanks,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson also said the training of Ukrainian crews on the tanks “is to begin rapidly in Germany.” Berlin would also provide “logistics, ammunition and maintenance of the systems.”
Moreover, Germany will provide partner countries like Spain, Poland, Finland or Norway, which “want to quickly deliver Leopard-2 tanks from their stocks,” the necessary re-export permission, the spokesperson said.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted that he “strongly welcomes” Berlin’s decision. “At a critical moment in Russia’s war, these can help Ukraine to defend itself, win & prevail as an independent nation.”
Spain, which owns one of the largest fleets of Leopards in the EU, with 347 tanks, has previously said it would send tanks to Kyiv as part of a European coalition, according to El País.
The Norwegian government is considering sending eight of its 36 Leopard tanks to Ukraine, but no decision has been made yet, Norwegian daily DN reported late Tuesday after a meeting of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and defense, quoting sources close to the deliberation.
Portugal, which has 37 Leopards, could provide four tanks to the assembling European coalition, a source close to the government told Correio da Manhã late on Tuesday.
The Netherlands, which is leasing 18 Leopards from Germany, is also weighing supplying some of their armored vehicles, Dutch newswire ANP reported, quoting a government spokesperson. On Tuesday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he was “willing to consider” buying the tanks from Germany and shipping them to Ukraine, but that no decision had been made.
On Wednesday, the Swedish defense minister said that Sweden did not exclude sending some of its own tanks at a later stage, according to Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet.
Wilhelmine Preussen and Zoya Sheftalovich contributed reporting.
This article was updated.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 24, 2023
‘Poland would request authorisation from Germany to send tanks to Ukraine’

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Warsaw: Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that his government would request authorisation from Germany to send the Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
But he also said that Poland would send the tanks to Ukraine, even if authorisation was not granted, reports the BBC.
The Prime Minister’s remarks came a day after German Foreign Minister Anna Baerbock said on Sunday that she “would not stand in the way” of Poland if it were to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, adding that Warsaw was yet to ask for export permission.
“For the moment the question has not been asked, but if we were asked we would not stand in the way,” she told France’s LCI TV.
In response to her statement, Morawiecki said on Monday that “even if ultimately we did not get this consent, within the framework of a small coalition… we will still hand over our tanks, together with others, to Ukraine”.
Also on Monday, the Polish president’s foreign policy adviser, Marcin Przydacz, said he welcomed Baerbock’s announcement, but would prefer to hear Germany’s position confirmed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“It turns out that through talks and diplomatic actions, Poland is able to change the German position,” Przydacz told Polish Radio.
Speaking to the BBC on the development, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Germany had the power to “save the lives of many Ukrainian soldiers”.

He appealed to all countries willing to send Leopard 2 tanks to “immediately, officially request the German government to allow delivery of these tanks to Ukraine”.
“This is the move that will make the whole situation crystal clear and we will see where it takes Germany. This is something that needs to be done right away and everything will become obvious,” he told the BBC on Monday.
Kuleba later told Ukrainian national TV that he was “confident” Germany would supply the tanks eventually.
“We already received British Challenger. They said it would be impossible… Every time in the end we obtained the desired result. We will have it this time as well.”
Last week, Morawiecki had said that Poland was ready to provide 14 Leopard 2s for Ukraine.
Polish government official however opined that the 14 tanks will have a limited impact on Ukraine’s fighting capacity and that Warsaw would ultimately want Germany and other NATO allies to also send their own Leopards.
The Leopard 2 tanks were specifically designed to compete with the Russian T-90 tanks, which are being used in the ongoing invasion, the BBC reported.
There are believed to be more than 2,000 of them worldwide and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said about 300 of them would help ensure a Russian defeat.
Under current regulations, Germany must also sanction any re-export of its tanks by other countries, such as Poland.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 24, 2023
Germany ready to let Poland send Leopard tanks to Ukraine

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Berlin: Germany is ready to authorize Poland to send German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine to help Kyiv fight the Russian invasion if Warsaw makes such a request, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told French Television LCI on Sunday, reported CNN.
“The question has not been asked. If we were asked the question, we would not stand in the way,” Baerbock said in an interview on the sides of a French-German cabinet meeting celebrating 60 years of the Elysee treaty.
When asked for clarification by the interviewer if she meant Germany would not stop Poland from sending battle tanks to Ukraine, Baerbock said, “You have understood me correctly.”
Her comments come as Berlin resists pressure from Kyiv to send some of its own stocks of the Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
Poland has announced it is ready to deliver 14 Leopard tanks to Kyiv but Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he was waiting for “a clear statement” from Berlin whether countries that have the Leopards can transfer them to Ukraine, reported RFI.
“We have rules, the so-called end-use controls,” Baerbock said of Germany’s hesitancy to send combat tanks into the war zone.
According to Germany’s basic law, “weapons intended for warfare may be manufactured, transported, and marketed only with the authorization of the federal government,” reported CNN.
Under the “War Weapons Control Act” the German government must consent to any delivery of German-made weapons to a war zone.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz must consent and the final decision rests with him, according to German law.
Scholz has been heavily criticized by his liberal coalition partner and many others for his stance on sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday said that there was “no alternative” but for the West to give Ukraine heavy tanks.
Meanwhile, a Russian politician warned that the continued delivery of weapons to Ukraine “will lead to a global catastrophe,” reported CNN.
“Delivery of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime will lead to a global catastrophe,” Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, wrote on his Telegram channel Sunday.
Volodin said the delivery of weapons will lead to Russian retaliation “using more powerful weapons.”
Volodin comments come after NATO partners met at Ramstein air base in Germany Friday to discuss more military aid for Ukraine.
However, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the availability of modern weapons in the Ukrainian army will not lead to an escalation of war with Russia, in a Sunday address to students and professors at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, reported CNN.
“Do not listen to the arguments of those who talk about escalation. People worry in the west that things are going to escalate if we give Ukraine the weapons,” Johnson said. “I was in Bucha. How can we escalate the confrontation, where one side is already using the most advanced modern aircraft to bomb residential areas? Ukraine deserves all the help possible.”
Johnson went on to say that Ukraine should “seek its destiny in NATO” because it not being in NATO “has led to the worst war in Europe in the past 80 years.”
Johnson said the whole world “owes Ukraine a debt,” because it is fighting for everybody who can potentially become “a victim of Vladimir Putin’s aggression.” He said Ukraine “fights for freedom around the world” and that the British people support Ukraine “a 100 pc.”
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 23, 2023
Send Ukraine tanks to get Germany to do so, McCaul urges

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He said that would create a domino effect, leading other nations in Europe to send Leopard 2 tanks as well. “Even saying we’re going to put Abrams tanks in, I think would be enough for Germany to unleash,” McCaul told host Martha Raddatz.
While much of Europe has been consistently supportive of Ukraine in its 11-month-old war with Russia, the question has been how much help to provide, particularly when it comes to weaponry. There are a variety of practical concerns involved, including the need to train Ukrainian forces to operate and maintain what is sent to them. And there is the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin could expand the war if he were to feel threatened by the West.
Germany on Friday said it had yet to decide whether to send tanks to Ukraine. Poland on Sunday accused Germany of dragging its feet on providing assistance to Ukraine and suggested it would be be willing to create its own coalition of countries to assist Zelenskyy’s forces. “We will not passively watch Ukraine bleed to death,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
Russia, for its part, has threatened the West with reprisals should Ukraine be supplied with more lethal weaponry. “With their decisions, Washington and Brussels are leading the world to a terrible war,” Vyacheslav Volodin, chair of Russia’s lower house, said Sunday.
Beyond tanks, McCaul also said Ukraine needs long-range artillery. Ukraine has said it needs more help because it expects Russia to launch new offensives, which McCaul expects to happen soon.
“The two main things that Zelenskyy is talking about, and everybody I’ve talked to, they need the tanks for the winter offensive that the Russians are going to perpetrate, and they need the longer-range artillery,” McCaul said.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 22, 2023
Germany faces backlash over reluctance to send tanks to Ukraine

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Germany is facing a backlash from allies over its reluctance to supply Leopard 2 tanks to bolster Ukraine’s fighting capacity in the nearly year-long war with Russia.
On Friday, 50 countries agreed to provide Kyiv with billions of dollars’ worth of military hardware, including armoured vehicles and munitions needed to push back Russian forces.
But the German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, told reporters at the US Ramstein airbase in Germany that despite heightened expectations, “we still cannot say when a decision will be taken, and what the decision will be, when it comes to the Leopard tank”.
Ukraine on Saturday denounced the “global indecision” of its allies in providing heavy-duty modern tanks, saying “today’s indecision is killing more of our people”.
“Every day of delay is the death of Ukrainians. Think faster,” tweeted presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak.
Several allies echoed the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in saying the tanks were essential to Ukraine’s fight with its much larger neighbour.
In a joint statement – and a rare public criticism of Europe’s top power – the foreign ministers of the three Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania said they “call on Germany to provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine now”.
“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,” said the statement, tweeted by the Latvian foreign minister, Edgars Rinkēvičs.

Graphic showing Leopard 2 tank
Berlin has been hesitant to send the Leopards or allow other countries to transfer them to Kyiv, with reports earlier in the week saying it would agree to do so only if the US provided its tanks as well. Washington has said providing its Abrams tanks to Ukraine is not feasible, citing difficulties in training and maintenance.
But expectations had grown ahead of Friday’s Ukraine contact group meeting of about 50 US-led countries at Ramstein airbase that Germany would at least agree to let other countries operating Leopards transfer them to Kyiv’s army.
The US senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina who is visiting Kyiv, called on both sides to supply the machines.
“To the Germans: send tanks to Ukraine because they need them. It is in your own national interest that Putin loses in Ukraine.
“To the Biden administration: send American tanks so that others will follow our lead,” he tweeted.
The pleas came as the Russian army said its troops had launched an offensive in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, where fighting intensified this week after several months of an almost frozen front.
In its daily report on Saturday, Moscow’s forces said they had carried out “offensive operations” in the region and claimed to have “taken more advantageous lines and positions”.

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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

January 21, 2023
Poland ready to build ‘smaller coalition’ to send tanks to Ukraine without Germany

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If Germany won’t play ball, then Poland will find other partners to deliver Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in pointed remarks accusing Berlin of foot-dragging in its support of Kyiv against invading Russian forces.
Poland is prepared to go around German opposition to build a “smaller coalition” of countries and find allies willing to send the tanks to Ukraine, Morawiecki said in an interview with the Polish Press Agency published on Sunday.
“We will not passively watch Ukraine bleed to death,” Morawiecki said.

His remarks come amid a heated debate over whether to send the German-made battle tanks to Ukraine. Kyiv has requested the weapons in order to renew its offensive against Russia in a push to reconquer captured territory.
Germany has expressed reluctance toward sending tanks without the U.S. doing the same, as it fears an escalation of the conflict. Berlin also holds a veto power over the re-export of the weapons from any of its allies. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has denied blocking any deliveries.
“We are in very close dialogue on this issue with our international partners, above all with the U.S.,” Pistorius, who took up the defense post last week, said in an interview with Bild published on Sunday.
Morawiecki has previously said that he was ready to go ahead with Leopard deliveries even without Berlin’s approval.
“Since Minister Pistorius denies that Germany is blocking the supply of tanks to Ukraine, I would like to hear a clear declaration that Berlin supports sending them,” the prime minister told the Polish Press Agency.
“The war is here and now. … Do the Germans want to keep them in storage until Russia defeats Ukraine and is knocking on Berlin’s door?” Morawiecki said.
Political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said in a statement that Germany was edging towards allowing the tanks to be sent — and advised “patience and perseverance.” But the broader takeaway was that Ukraine had to rebuild its own armaments industry in order to not have to only rely on help from abroad in the future, he added.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 21, 2023
Germany ready to let Poland send Leopard tanks to Ukraine: foreign minister

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PARIS — Germany “would not stand in the way” if Poland or other allies asked for permission to send their German-built Leopard tanks to Ukraine, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday.
The remarks by the Green politician, who was interviewed by French TV LCI on the sidelines of a Franco-German summit in Paris, came in response to comments by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who has raised pressure on Berlin in recent days by saying that Poland is willing to supply Kyiv with Leopard tanks, which would require German approval.
Morawiecki even suggested that Warsaw was ready to send those tanks without Berlin’s consent.
Baerbock, however, stressed that “we have not been asked so far” by Poland for such permission. “If we were asked, we would not stand in the way,” she added.
German officials have gotten increasingly frustrated in recent days by what they perceive as a “media blame-game” by Poland, as Warsaw has repeatedly suggested that Germany was hampering plans to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, although it appears that the necessary request for export permission has not been made yet.
Germany is, however, still dragging its feet when it comes to the bigger question of whether it would be willing to send its own Leopard tanks to Ukraine, for example as part of a broader coalition with Poland and other countries like Finland and Denmark.
Pressed on that point during a press conference in Paris on Sunday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz avoided giving a clear answer, stressing instead that Berlin had never ceased supporting Ukraine with weapons deliveries and took its decisions in cooperation with its allies.
Poland’s Morawiecki said on Sunday that his country was ready to build a “smaller coalition” for sending tanks to Ukraine without Germany.

Baerbock’s comments are therefore also raising the pressure on Scholz to take a clearer position on the tank issue — at least when it comes to granting export permissions to other countries.
After Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, also from the Greens, said earlier that Germany “should not stand in the way” of permitting such deliveries, the foreign minister’s even more definitive statement makes it even harder for Scholz to take a different position.
Ukraine has been appealing to Germany and other Western nations to supply modern Western-made battle tanks in order to fend off an expected Russian spring offensive.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 21, 2023
Ukraine frustrated as Germany holds back decision on supply of tanks

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Germany has declined to take a decision on whether to give Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine at a special international summit, prompting frustration in Kyiv and a warning from Poland that lives could be lost because of hesitation in Berlin.
It had been hoped in Europe and the US that Germany would at least allow Leopards owned by countries such as Poland and Finland to be re-exported, but despite days of pleading, Berlin’s newly appointed defence minister said no final decision had been taken.
Instead, Boris Pistorius said on the sidelines of the 50-nation meeting at the Ramstein US air force base in Germany on Friday that he had asked his ministry to “undertake an examination of the stocks” of the tanks available.
Germany’s Leopard 2
Although it was the closest Germany has come to suggesting it might be contemplating the use of the tanks in the conflict, it provoked a number of pointed comments from Ukraine and its allies as the meeting broke up without progress on what has come to be seen as the core issue.
Zbigniew Rau, Poland’s foreign minister, said Ukrainian lives would be lost because of Germany’s reluctance to act. “Arming Ukraine in order to repel the Russian aggression is not some kind of decision-making exercise. Ukrainian blood is shed for real. This is the price of hesitation over Leopard deliveries. We need action, now,” he tweeted.
Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, said after the meeting that there was “not a long time” available to provide Ukraine with extra equipment before the expected renewed offensives on both sides as the weather improves. “We have a window of opportunity between now and the spring,” he added.

The chair of the US joint chiefs of staff, Gen Mark Milley, said: “This year, it would be very, very difficult to militarily eject the Russian forces from every inch of Russian-occupied Ukraine.”
Milley told reporters that a “continued defence stabilising the front” would be possible, but that would depend on the delivery and training of military equipment to Ukraine.
Prior to the meeting, Ukraine’s president said pointedly that his country was waiting for a “decision from one European capital that will activate the prepared chains of cooperation on tanks”. In an address, Volodymyr Zelenskiy added it was “in your power” to at least make a decision in principle about tanks.
Poland, which had said it could donate its own Leopard 2 tanks without seeking permission from Germany, said it had participated in a meeting of defence ministers of 15 countries to make progress on the topic.
Mariusz Blaszczak, the country’s defence minister, said he was still “convinced that coalition-building will end in success”.
Berlin is at the centre of the tanks debate because it has yet to allow the re-export of any of the 2,000-plus German-made Leopard 2 tanks owned by Nato countries, holding out for the US to agree to send some of its own Abrams tanks in addition.
The US argues that its Abrams tanks, which run on jet engines, are fuel-inefficient and so difficult to supply, but earlier this week the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, directly asked the US president, Joe Biden, to send US tanks in return for sending its own Leopard tanks.
Yet Berlin said on Friday it had backed away from such a demand, leaving Germany to carry on considering the issue in isolation. Steffen Hebestreit, a German government spokesman, said Scholz was not making the decision on the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks dependent on whether or not the US delivered its M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
“At no time has there been any deal or demand that one thing would follow on from another,” the spokesperson said. “I find it difficult to imagine a German chancellor dictating any conditions or making demands to an American president.”
Berlin, he further insisted, did not expect Poland to carry out its threat to deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine unilaterally, without receiving the necessary export licence from Germany. Hebestreit said: “All our partners will surely want to behave in a law-abiding way.”
Leopard 2 inventories
There had been hope that Germany might, as a compromise, allow export licences to be issued to European owners of the Leopard 2, while withholding its own Leopard tanks.
But in the end that too was dashed at Friday’s meeting of 50 western defence ministers in the Ukraine international contact group. Ukraine says it wants 300 tanks to help force out the Russian invaders in the spring, although western analysts say the supply of 100 would be enough to make an immediate difference.
Zelenskiy had begun the meeting, arguing that urgent action was necessary because “Russia is concentrating its forces, last forces, trying to convince everyone that hatred can be stronger than the world”.
It was vital to “speed up” weapons supplies, Zelenskiy added, because the war with Russia amounted to a battle between freedom and autocracy. “It is about what kind of world people will live in, people who dream, love and hope.”
Earlier this week, Britain said it would donate 14 of its Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, while Poland said it wanted to follow suit with a similar number of German-made Leopard 2s. Finland has said it wants to donate tanks, while France has indicated that it is considering supplying some of its own Leclerc armoured units.
But it is the Leopards that are considered crucial because they are the dominant tank model in Europe. Germany itself has 321 Leopards in active service, plus another 255 in storage, out of a Nato total of more than 2,300.
Austin also announced a fresh $2.5bn (£2bn) military aid package to Ukraine, including 59 more Bradley fighting vehicles, on top of 50 already announced earlier this month, and 90 Stryker eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers and 350 Humvees.
The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the war in Ukraine was escalating, and argued that Nato countries were playing a direct role in the conflict, although the western military alliance is not at war with Russia.
“It really is developing in an upward spiral. We see a growing indirect, and sometimes direct, involvement of Nato countries in this conflict,” Peskov said.
“We see a devotion to the dramatic delusion that Ukraine can succeed on the battlefield. This is a dramatic delusion of the western community that will more than once be cause for regret, we are sure of that.”
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

January 21, 2023
‘We need action’: Time runs out for Ukraine as allied countries debate sending tanks

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Frustration with Germany is boiling over. Arming Ukraine “is not some kind of decision-making exercise,” Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau tweeted after the 50-nation Ukraine Defense Contact Group met in Ramstein, Germany, on Friday. “Ukrainian blood is shed for real. This is the price of hesitation over Leopard deliveries. We need action, now.”
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur agreed that the debates are hurting Ukraine’s prospects.
“Any delay will have an [effect],” he said via text. “How big this [effect] could be is very difficult to predict.”
The issue simmered throughout the week as world leaders gathered in Davos for the World Economic Forum.
There, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met privately with U.S. lawmakers and told them Germany won’t send their tanks unless the U.S. transfers their own first, as POLITICO reported.
The matter came to a head during the meeting at Ramstein on Friday, where German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters that Berlin still hadn’t decided what it would do, but left the door open to approving the transfer.
“None of us can yet say when a decision will be made and what the decision will look like,” he said, adding that he had instructed the German army to review the country’s inventory so it can move quickly if they decide to send the tanks.
“We have been repeating that more tanks are necessary,” said an official from Eastern Europe, who asked not to be named in order to speak candidly. “Still we have hope.”

Following the meeting, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. and allies are “pushing hard to meet Ukraine’s requirements for tanks and other armored vehicles.” Yet he mostly sidestepped the intense debate over whether to send U.S. and German tanks.
Austin also denied reports that sending U.S. tanks was a condition for Germany to send its own.
The coming fight
The fighting in Ukraine this spring will rely heavily on tanks on both sides of the line, and after a year of hard combat, Kyiv is desperate for more modern Western models to allow them to overwhelm the hundreds of Russian tanks and armored vehicles lying in wait.
Getting that new equipment into the hands of Ukrainian soldiers quickly will go a long way in determining when Ukraine can launch its offensives this year, said Rob Lee, with the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
“I think the delivery and training timeline will influence when Ukraine chooses to pursue its most ambitious offensives,” Lee said, adding that Leopards may be better than the M1 Abrams tanks that the U.S. has been resistant to offer. That’s because Leopards are less complicated to operate and maintain. “If Ukrainians can master the Leopards sooner than Abrams, they could play a greater role in offensives this summer.”
Still, the vehicle donations so far have been significant. Over the past several weeks the U.S. has pledged to send Bradley Fighting Vehicles. Sweden announced it will donate CV90 armored vehicles, and Germany has promised to ship Marder vehicles. All three models are heavily armored, tracked vehicles featuring powerful autocannons that can chew through armor and absorb incoming fire.
Those infantry carriers, along with Humvees, mine-resistant vehicles and Stryker infantry carriers from the U.S. would likely lead the vanguard of new armored units that are much more potent than anything Ukraine — or most nations — have been able to field. They’ll be supported by dozens of new mobile howitzers promised this week by the U.S., Denmark and Sweden to form a lethal combined arms punch.
Speaking after the gathering in Ramstein Friday, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen Mark Milley said the new armor and artillery is equivalent to two U.S. combined arms maneuver brigades, or six mechanized infantry battalions.
Training for Ukrainian troops on that equipment has already begun in Germany, an effort Milley saw firsthand this week during a visit to a U.S. training site. “That training in addition to the equipment will significantly increase Ukraine’s capability to defend itself from Russian attacks, and to go on the tactical and operational offensive to liberate the occupied areas,” Milley said.
Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army Europe, said the new armored units will likely “be trained and prepared to serve as the breakthrough formation for the next major offensive phase of the campaign. I’d anticipate that it’ll be at least three months before they’re able to do that. It will be built around Ukrainian armor that they already have or have captured, but Western tanks [armored fighting vehicles and artillery] will help make it more lethal.”
Hurry up and wait
Even if Berlin decides to send its tanks, or approves other countries to send theirs, the shipment won’t happen right away.
German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall said recently that it would likely take them until 2024 to deliver combat-ready Leopards to Ukraine, given the poor condition of many German tanks.
Countries such as Poland, Finland, and Norway would likely be able to deliver their Leopards sooner, though one European defense official said it could take two months to fully train Ukrainian crews on the tanks.
It also remains unclear when the 14 Challenger tanks promised by the U.K. will have trained crews ready to operate them.
The U.S., meanwhile, is walking a fine line on encouraging Germany to act while noting this is that country’s decision.
“These are sovereign decisions. We respect them. We welcome them,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday. “We do believe that there is a need for armored capability including tanks inside Ukraine, and the Leopard tank is a terrific system.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made it clear on Friday that the debate needs to end and empty platitudes aren’t enough.
“Hundreds of ‘thank you’ are not hundreds of tanks,” he told the group in Ramstein via video address. “All of us can use thousands of words, but I can’t put words, instead of guns needed, against Russian artillery.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 20, 2023
Leopard 2 tanks: what are they and why does Ukraine want them?

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What is the Leopard 2?
The Leopard 2 is a German-manufactured main battle tank with a range of about 500km (311 miles). It first came into service in 1979 and has a top speed of 68km/h (42mph). Equipped with a 120mm smooth bore gun as its main armament, it is also armed with two coaxial light machine guns.
As well as being used by the German military, Leopard 2 has been in wide service in Europe, with more than a dozen countries using the tank, as well as a number of other countries including Canada. The tanks have been deployed in Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Syria (by Turkey) where several were lost to anti-tank missiles.
Leopard 2 graphic
Why does Ukraine want them?
Ukraine has said it has an urgent need for heavier armour in its war against Russia’s invasion. Kyiv has limited availability of tanks, most of them from the Soviet or post-Soviet era.

As well as emphasising its belief that Moscow intends to launch a significant new offensive in the coming months, Kyiv and many of its allies believe that the war will end more quickly if Russia is defeated on the battlefield in Ukraine’s own counter-offensives to take back Russian occupied territory.
While Ukraine has won significant victories – in the battle for Kyiv at the beginning of the war as well as in Kharkiv oblast and around Kherson in the south – it is hampered by a shortage of tanks to support its operations and faced by Russian forces increasingly fielding more modern and capable T-90s.
The widespread availability of Leopards – including in neighbouring Poland, which wants to supply them to Ukraine – makes them a good fit for Kyiv.
Ukraine has suggested it needs 300 tanks, while western analysts have suggested that 100 could probably shift the balance of the war.
So what is the problem?
Because the tanks were supplied to countries under export licenses, Germany can veto re-export, although Poland suggested on Thursday it could simply ignore Germany and export its Leopards regardless.
Germany’s own position has been conflicted. It prefers a multilateral approach on arms supply to Ukraine rather than being seen to be moving unilaterally.
Leopard 2 inventories
Although Germany has supplied a large amount of equipment to Ukraine, including armoured cars, it has also been wrestling with its post-second world war tradition of anti-militarism. The supply of main battle tanks had been seen as problematic because of their much more obviously offensive capabilities.
Germany had tried to tie the supply of Leopards to a wider coalition that would supply other tanks, including US Abrams – a tank viewed by experts as being less suitable for the war in Ukraine because of its heavy consumption of fuel.
What is the argument against supplying the tanks?
Opponents believe that the supply of tanks would be an escalation of the involvement of Nato countries in the war, heightening the risk of the war spreading. Ukraine has said it would only use the tanks within its internationally recognised borders, while supporters say that it is Moscow that has continued to escalate the conflict, mobilising ever more troops, targeting civilian infrastructure and making veiled threats of nuclear strikes.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

January 20, 2023