The countries supporting Kyiv militarily are holding a meeting in Germany on Friday, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was waiting for “strong decisions” like sending in heavy armored vehicles to help his country in the crucial battles to come help against Russia.
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A few hours before this meeting at the American base in Ramstein, the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark announced large new arms shipments to Ukraine.
Washington will release $2.5 billion in new military aid, including 59 Bradley armored vehicles that will contribute to the May 6 attacks.
The US Army will also deliver 53 anti-mine armored vehicles (MRAP) and 350 M998 transport vehicles, the famous Humvee, to Ukraine. This new tranche brings total US military aid to Ukraine to $26.7 billion since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
But this new tranche of support doesn’t include heavy tanks like the Abrams, which the United States says isn’t yet ready to make Kyiv available for maintenance and training.
The UK has pledged to send Ukraine 600 additional Brimstone missiles, Denmark 19 French-made Caesar guns and Sweden Archer self-propelled guns.
Systems, all of which have a range of tens of kilometers, less than claimed by the Ukrainians.
London had already pledged 14 Challenger 2 heavy tanks to Kyiv, and Poland says it is ready to supply 14 German-made Leopard 2 main battle tanks, a far cry from the hundreds of such vehicles Ukraine needs.
“Strong Decisions”
Friday’s meeting is the third in this so-called “Ramstein” format since the conflict began. Secretary of Defense and high-ranking military officials from around fifty countries gather around US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
“We are preparing for Ramstein tomorrow. We expect strong decisions. We expect strong military support from the United States,” Zelenskyy said in his video address on Thursday evening.
“Some countries” will send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said on Thursday, adding that “more information” will be released on Friday.
“You need German tanks, Finnish tanks, Danish tanks, French tanks, which means that Western Europe itself must now allocate more modern tanks to Ukraine so that it can easily defend itself,” said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Germany is under increasing pressure from several of its European neighbors to allow shipments of leopards. His new defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said Thursday the answer would be “clear in the next few hours or early tomorrow (Friday)”.
For his part, via video conference on the sidelines of the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland, Mr Zelensky mocked those who say “I will supply tanks if someone else does”.
A clear nod to Germany, whose Chancellor Olaf Scholz told US congresses in Davos his country would only supply heavy tanks to Ukraine if the US sent them, according to a senior US official.
“Tremble before Putin”
“Against thousands of tanks from Russia (…) the courage of our army and the motivation of the Ukrainian people are not enough,” Mr. Zelenskyi pounded.
Shortly thereafter, one of his advisors, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, urged Westerners to “stop trembling before Putin” and start supplying heavy armor to Ukraine.
Experts say modern, Western-designed heavy tanks would be a key advantage for Kyiv in the upcoming battles in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is returning to the offensive after severe setbacks this winter.
Ukrainian authorities also say they need missile systems with a range of more than 100km to be able to hit the Russian supply chain, particularly ammunition depots.
But westerners fear, despite Ukrainian assurances, that Kyiv will escalate by using these weapons to penetrate deep into Russian territory and air and naval bases in Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
The Kremlin also issued a clear warning on Thursday: the delivery of long-range weapons “would mean that the conflict would reach a new level”.