"This is needed to stop Russian aggression, help Ukraine and restore peace in Europe quickly. "We, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania Foreign Ministers, call on Germany to provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine now," Reinsalu posted on Twitter on Saturday. Ukraine's deputy foreign minister, Andriy Melnyk, told CNN on Saturday that Germany's reluctance to furnish Kyiv with Leopard 2 tanks was a "huge disappointment for all Ukrainians."Īfter the summit, Estonia's foreign minister, Urmas Reinsalu, posted a joint call from Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius for Germany to bend to international pressure over the Leopard 2 tanks. Army's Ramstein air base in Germany, conditions for Leopard 2 tanks to arrive in Ukraine had still not been agreed. On Sunday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that, although for "the moment the question has not been asked," Berlin "would not stand in the way" of Leopard 2 tanks rolling into Ukraine.įollowing a meeting of Western defense ministers, led by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the U.S. This prevents other countries sending the main battle tanks, which are held by more than a dozen armed forces in Europe, elsewhere without permission from Berlin. Poland had promised to supply a small number of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine as part of an "international coalition," but Germany holds the export license for the tanks. Read more Germany's Hesitation on Tanks Is Prolonging the War Germany has faced increasing pressure from NATO countries and allies to send the main battle tanks that Kyiv has long petitioned for. Combined operations also would include the Bradley vehicles and the Stryker vehicles that are very significant, and we are actually going to provide those." "What's crucial here is really creating a more effective, what we call, 'combined operations,' combined operations being more artillery, and infantry, and air defense. "The tanks themselves won't make a crucial difference," Newton added. said the functioning of individual weapons systems alongside one another could "turn the tide." Stressing he believed "strongly" that tanks would help with the "integrated capabilities" of trained soldiers, the retired Lt. German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday that Berlin "would not stand in the way" of countries sending Leopard 2s to Ukraine. A Leopard 2 main battle tank of the Bundeswehr is seen at the Bundeswehr army training center in Ostenholz on Octonear Hodenhagen, Germany.
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