According to two German media, Chancellor Olaf Scholz will accede to Ukraine’s request, authorizing the allied countries to do the same.
Source AFP
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OLaf Scholz could give the green light on Wednesday January 25 for the delivery of heavy tanks Leopard 2 of type 2A6 to Ukraine. According to Spiegel and the NTV news channel, the German chancellor, under pressure for weeks, is preparing to announce it. Questioned by AFP, the entourage of the Social Democratic Chancellor did not wish to comment on Tuesday evening. The German leader, who is due to speak on Wednesday at 12:00 GMT before the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, would also give his agreement to countries, including Poland, which wish to deliver Leopard 2 tanks to kyiv, according to these media.
“Germany is sending Leopard tanks to Ukraine,” tweeted the Liberal Democratic Party (FDP), a member of the government coalition.
The Leopard 2 heavy tank, which Ukraine has been demanding for months from Germany and the West, is a world-class weapon that could have a “significant” impact on the battlefield, experts say. Designed by the German manufacturer Krauss-Maffei and built in series from the end of the 1970s to replace the American M48 Patton tanks and then the Leopard 1 tank, the Leopard 2 combines firepower, mobility and protection.
“Discussions must end with decisions,” urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday evening. “The allies have the required number of tanks” necessary for the Ukrainian army to overthrow the troops in Moscow, he said in his daily address published on social networks, hammering that “the needs are greater” than ” five, ten or fifteen chariots”.
« We will process the request with the urgency required »
In Berlin, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he had “expressly encouraged partner countries that have Leopard tanks ready for deployment to train Ukrainian forces on these tanks”. These declarations constitute a step forward in the position of Germany, where the government of Olaf Scholz is under increasing pressure to give the green light to partner countries who wish so that they can deliver tanks to Ukraine. Assault Leopard, made in Germany.
So far, Finland and Poland have said they are ready to do so. Warsaw, which wants to create a “coalition of countries supporting Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks”, has officially sent a request to this effect, the receipt of which was confirmed by Berlin on Tuesday. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he hoped for a quick response, “because the Germans are delaying, procrastinating, acting in a way that is difficult to understand”. “We will process the request with the urgency required in accordance with the planned procedure,” assured a spokesman for the German government on Tuesday.
READ ALSOTank deliveries: what the Ukrainians want against the RussiansNATO chief Jens Stoltenberg hailed the “clear message” from the new German Defense Minister, who has been in office for less than a week. “Such deliveries will not bring anything good” to Russian-German relations, on the other hand reacted the spokesman of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov. On Monday, Poland had warned that it was ready to do without authorization from Berlin. This country, which says it is willing to send 14 Leopard 2s to kyiv, is discussing this with about fifteen states, many European armies possessing such armored vehicles.
The fear of a military escalation with Moscow and his reluctance to make Germany assume leadership in the Western camp explain the Chancellor’s hesitations, according to analysts.