Poland’s President Andrzej Duda. left, and Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) session “In Defense of Europe” January 17 in Davos, Switzerland. (Arnd Wiegmann/Portal)
Leaders of Poland and Lithuania said they were optimistic Germany would authorize Leopard tanks to be exported to Ukraine as business tycoons and policymakers gathered for the annual World Economic Forum on Monday.
“If we’re still sending a lot of military equipment to the defenders of Ukraine, state-of-the-art military equipment, they still have this potential to stop Russians,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said Tuesday during a panel session in Davos, Switzerland.
His comments came after Poland announced last week that it would send Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine. The country has urged the German government to ship “all kinds of weapons” to Kyiv as it needs permission from Germany to export German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
Duda said he hopes “there are a few partners, a few allies who will give Ukraine tanks” when asked about his expectations given that Chancellor Olaf Scholz was also attending the Davos summit.
“We hope that the tank manufacturer Germany will also take part in what I think is a very good idea. I was asked for this military support a few times by Volodymyr Zelensky, he said to me, Andrzej, we need modern tanks because this is the only way to stop the Russian invasion now,” added Duda.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that “someone has to take that leadership to make the decision to support Ukraine” when asked about divisions within the alliance.
“I firmly believe that Chancellor Scholz will decide this and I have witnessed a very important break or turning point in the thinking or mentality of Germany,” he added.
Some context: Numerous countries in the western alliance have pledged to soon send tanks to the Ukrainian military to defend against the Russian invasion.
France, Poland and the United Kingdom have for the first time responded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s long-standing call for modern battle tanks to be delivered to Kyiv.
However, Scholz insisted that such a plan must be fully coordinated with the entire Western alliance, including the United States.
Scholz is expected to give a speech at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.