Zelenskyy demanded: “The supply of Western main battle tanks must prevent a future invasion with Russian main battle tanks.” This also applies to the supply of air defense systems. These must come before the “next Russian missile strikes”. The international contact group with Ukraine meets this Friday in Ramstein, in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is also about more military aid to the attacked country.
Zelenskyy criticized that after the Russian attack on February 24, 2022, several days passed before the first sanctions were imposed. In 2014, the reaction to the Russian annexation of Crimea was still hesitant. “The world must not hesitate today or ever,” warned Zelenskyy. Russia controls about 18% of Ukraine’s territory, including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. For a successful counter-offensive, Kyiv relies on the delivery of hundreds of main battle tanks from the Western.
Western Allies are still deliberating over the possible delivery of main battle tanks to Ukraine. On the sidelines of the WEF in Davos, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Ukraine would receive heavier weapons to fight Russia. It is a struggle for values and democracy.
Stoltenberg pointed out that it would also be very dangerous for NATO if Putin won this war. Because other authoritarian rulers got the message that brute force would get what they wanted. “It makes the world more dangerous and us more vulnerable.” In this case, arms deliveries are the path to peace.
The only way to a peace deal is to convince Putin that he cannot win on the battlefield. You are in a “decisive moment of war”. A “significant increase” in arms deliveries is needed.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz kept a low profile in Davos on the issue of Leopard main battle tank supplies to Ukraine but stressed that the US deal was crucial for him. Care must be taken that the war does not turn into a conflict between Russia and NATO.
Scholz spoke with US President Joe Biden on Tuesday. According to information from the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, Scholz made it clear that Germany could only comply if the US, in turn, supplied Ukraine with Abrams war tanks. Apparently, Biden still hadn’t made a decision in Tuesday’s conversation.
Bild newspaper, citing government circles, also reported that Scholz wanted to allow deliveries of the Leopard from Germany and NATO partners – even if the US made Abrams tanks available. According to the report, Scholz is concerned that Europe and the US will only give Ukraine tanks together so that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot split NATO.
On Friday, Western defense ministers will meet in the so-called Ramstein format, which will also include the new German incumbent, Boris Pistorius. The European Parliament, for its part, asked Scholz on Wednesday to allow deliveries of Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine. In Strasbourg, MEPs passed a corresponding Greens motion with a large majority.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has spoken out in favor of negotiations with the head of the Kremlin, Putin, to end the war in Ukraine: “It is important that we also maintain contact with Putin,” Sánchez told the American news channel CNN in Davos. “For example, I strongly advocate that the French government and the German government (…) take the lead here,” Sánchez said. A return to the so-called Normandy format – a contact group made up of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, as it existed before the outbreak of war – is conceivable.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has already expressed reservations about a possible delivery of his country’s main Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine. “That possibility is not currently on the table,” he said. Socialist Prime Minister Sánchez should also note that his smaller, more left-wing coalition partner, Unidas Podemos, is critical of arms sales to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Canada has pledged 200 Senator armored vehicles to Ukraine. The announcement was made by Defense Minister Anita Anand during a visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. The vehicles are used to transport soldiers and were requested by Ukraine.
Russia controls about 18% of Ukraine’s territory, including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. For a successful counter-offensive, Kyiv relies on the delivery of hundreds of main battle tanks from the Western.