Events in Russia and the world. Analytical publications. Materials of press conferences. Video and photo reportsThe United States may transfer a significant number of tanks to Ukraine in order to persuade Germany to take a similar step, Sky News Arabia and The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing sources.
The issue of sending modern Western tanks to Ukraine previously caused a split in NATO. Some members of the alliance, such as the United Kingdom, have announced plans to transfer heavy combat vehicles to Kiev, but such a key tank manufacturer as Germany is in no hurry to follow their example. Warsaw is putting more pressure on Berlin than others, which seeks to create a "small coalition" of countries to transfer German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Kiev and even threatens its western neighbor with "international isolation."
TASS has collected the main information about the problem of the supply of Western tanks to Ukraine.
Requirements of Kiev
The Ukrainian authorities have been demanding tank supplies from the West since the beginning of the Russian special military operation. Last September, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal stated that he expected the transfer of Leopard and American Abrams, and in December he requested Leclerc tanks from France.
Kiev did not say how many such vehicles they want to get, but in mid-June last year, the adviser to the head of the office of the Ukrainian president, Mikhail Podolyak, spoke about the need to get 500 tanks along with other equipment.
Changing positions
Last summer, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that "almost the official position of NATO partners" is not to supply Ukraine with "certain weapons," including tanks.
At the same time, Western countries provided Kiev with Soviet-style armored fighting vehicles, because, as explained in the Pentagon, the Ukrainian military "already know how to operate them and, more importantly, know how to repair them, there are spare parts for them." But gradually the arsenals remaining in Europe were depleted: As the Czech Minister for European Affairs Mikulas Beck acknowledged in January, Ukraine's partners "have completely emptied their stocks of Soviet weapons."
Confirmed deliveries
On January 4, Macron promised to hand over AMX-10 RC wheeled tanks to Kiev. It was not specified how many of these vehicles, armed with a 105-millimeter cannon, Paris plans to transfer and when this may happen. The French president also noted that he "does not exclude" the transfer of Leclerc tanks to Kiev.
The next day, January 5, the United States and Germany announced plans to transfer Bradley and Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. We are talking about 50 American cars and 40 German ones. Washington and Berlin decided for the first time to supply Kiev with such equipment, but refrained from providing tanks of their own production.
On January 15, the UK announced that in the coming weeks it would supply Ukraine with 14 Challenger 2 tanks equipped with a 120 mm cannon. According to Downing Street, the United Kingdom will begin training the Ukrainian military in the use of British tanks "in the coming days."
The situation around Leopard
The German authorities have repeatedly demonstrated their unwillingness to transfer Leopard to Ukraine without coordination with NATO allies. According to media reports, they called the transfer of Abrams tanks by the United States a condition of delivery, but representatives of the German government did not confirm this information.
Without Berlin's approval, Kiev cannot be supplied with German-made tanks, even those in service with other countries. The Polish authorities, who announced such an intention on January 11, criticized Germany in the following days for, in their opinion, delaying support for their initiative. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stated his desire to transfer Leopard to Ukraine even if the German side refuses.
It was the "evasiveness of Germany," according to the head of the EU Foreign policy service, Josep Borrel, that became the main reason that the participants of the next meeting at the American base in Ramstein, Germany, on January 20 did not make a positive decision on the supply of Leopards to Ukraine.
According to the ABC TV channel, representatives of 12 countries at this meeting were ready to send about 100 tanks to Kiev if Berlin gave its consent. In addition, the German concern Rheinmetall can send a total of 139 tanks of various modifications to Ukraine, including 88 Leopard 1 and 51 Leopard 2A4, but only 29 of them can be delivered before the summer of 2023.
The German authorities deny that they are the only ones slowing down the transfer of German-made tanks to Ukraine. On January 23, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock said that Berlin "would not stand in the way" of those who decide to do this, and on January 24, the new Defense Minister of the republic Boris Pistorius stressed that at the meeting in Ramstein there were "countries that carefully want to weigh everything."
Other "deviators"
Germany is not the only NATO country demonstrating evasiveness in the issue of supplying Western tanks to Ukraine. In particular, Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani stated that the republic "does not participate in the discussion of the issue." According to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he "has no announcements yet about possible supplies to Kiev" Leopard, which the Canadian army has.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares also said that in Madrid, the possibility of supplying tanks "is not being considered at the moment <...>." Later, however, he advocated a joint decision by the NATO allies on this issue.
Abrams Supplies
As noted in the US Department of Defense, the decision to send Abrams is due to the high cost of servicing such tanks and their requirements, including fuel. Sky News Arabia TV channel, citing an anonymous official in the Pentagon, reported on January 24 that Washington is ready to transfer 10 tanks to Kiev in order to influence Berlin's position, but there is no official confirmation of this information yet.
As The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed American officials, the US administration is leaning in favor of transferring a significant number of M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, an announcement on deliveries may be made as early as this week.
Impact assessment
The transfer of several dozen Western tanks to Kiev "will not radically change the situation," since "the Russian army has a thousand tanks at its disposal," Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky acknowledged in an interview with the German ARD TV channel.
Moscow also believes that the supplies will not have a significant impact on the course of hostilities. In particular, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, in an interview with journalists, urged "not to exaggerate the importance of " Western tanks" in terms of their ability to change something." According to him, such steps by NATO will only "add problems for Ukraine and for the Ukrainian people."
