America, Germany may send tanks to Ukraine in possible turn of war

Berlin/Kyiv:

The United States was expected to announce as soon as Wednesday that it would send heavy tanks to Ukraine, and Germany has also decided to do the same, the sources said, adding that Kyiv has said that its relations with Russia Will start the war again.

Hours before Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky turned 45 on Wednesday, he pressed allies to move to provide his army with five to 15 more modern tanks.

“Discussions must end with decisions,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address. “The decision to realistically strengthen our defense against terrorists. The allies have the necessary number of tanks.”

Two US officials told Reuters on Tuesday that just days after arguing against accepting Kyiv’s requests, Washington was ready to begin a process that would eventually send M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine. A third official said the US commitment could deliver about 30 tanks in the coming months.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has decided to send Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries such as Poland to do the same, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Spiegel magazine, which first reported the news, said Germany was planning to supply at least one company with Leopard 2 A6 tanks, which usually consists of 14 tanks. Other allies in Scandinavia, for example, intend to side with Germany in supplying their Leopard tanks to Kyiv, the magazine reported.

While there was no official confirmation from Berlin or Washington, what officials in Kyiv said was a potential gamechanger on the battlefield in a war that is now 11 months old – even if the rumored tank numbers exceed their hopes. be less

Andrey Ermak, the head of Zelensky’s administration, wrote on a telegram, “A few hundred tanks for our tank crews…. It’s going to be the real punching fist of democracy.”

Kyiv has for months requested Western tanks that it says will give its forces the firepower and mobility to break through Russian defensive lines and retake territory captured in the east and south. Germany has held back, wary of moves that could strain Moscow.

front lines frozen

The front line in the war, which stretches for more than 1,000 kilometers through eastern and southern Ukraine, remained largely frozen for two months despite heavy losses on both sides. Both Russia and Ukraine are believed to be planning new attacks.

Zelensky said Tuesday night that Russia was increasing its pressure on Bakhmut, an industrial town in eastern Ukraine that has been the center of intense fighting. “They want to increase the pressure massively,” he said.

Supplying Ukraine with large numbers of modern heavy battle tanks has been a hot topic of discussion among Kyiv’s Western allies in recent days.

The Kremlin has said that supplying tanks to Ukraine will not help and that the West will regret its “delusion” that Kyiv can win on the battlefield.

Berlin has been important because the German-made Leopard, fielded by some 20 armies worldwide, is widely seen as the best option. Tanks are available in large numbers and are easy to deploy and maintain.

While the US Abrams tank is considered less suitable because of its heavy fuel consumption and difficulty in maintenance, a US move to send them to Ukraine could make it easier for Germany – which has called for a united front among Ukraine’s allies – of leopards to allow supplies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a “special military operation” launched after invading Ukraine on February 24 last year as a defensive and existential fight against an aggressive and arrogant West.

Ukraine and the West call Russia’s actions an unprovoked land grab to subdue a fellow former Soviet republic that Moscow regards as an artificial state.

lead purification

Separately on Tuesday, Ukraine sacked more than a dozen senior officials as part of an anti-corruption campaign, making it more important than ever to keep its Western backers on edge.

The European Union, which last June offered candidate member status to Ukraine, welcomed the development.

Among the Ukrainian officials who resigned or were dismissed were the governors of the Kyiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, the latter three bordering provinces. Kyiv and Sumy were the main battlegrounds of the first war.

Some, though not all, of the officials leaving were linked to allegations of corruption.

Ukraine has a history of corruption and unstable governance, and is under international pressure to show it can be a reliable steward of billions of dollars in Western aid.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)