Germany has answered repeated calls by Kyiv and approved a decision to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, as well as their re-export from partner countries amid media reports that the United States will also greenlight the delivery of Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
In eastern Ukraine, meanwhile, Kyiv has confirmed that its troops have pulled out of the eastern town of Soledar after weeks of intense fighting with Russian forces.
Reuters and AFP quoted a Ukrainian military spokesman as saying on January 25 that the move saw soldiers move back to predesignated positions.
The German move, announced by the government on January 25, represents an important U-turn in the Western allies’ stance that Kyiv hopes will alter the balance on the battlefield as Russia is piling massive pressure on Ukrainian defenders in Donbas.
Germany said its goal was to quickly establish two battalions with Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine, according to a statement issued by government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit, adding that Berlin would, in a first step, provide 14 Leopard 2 tanks from military stocks.
The training of Ukrainian troops in Germany will begin soon, and Germany will also provide logistics and ammunition, the statement said.
“This decision follows our well-known line of supporting Ukraine to the best of our ability. We are acting in a closely coordinated manner internationally,” the statement quoted Scholz as saying.
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Scholz is set to make an official announcement in an address to parliament at 1 p.m., officials with knowledge of the matter told the media.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, whose government has been pressing Germany for weeks to allow the delivery of Leopards to Ukraine, thanked Scholz for the decision.
“Thank you @Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz,” Morawiecki wrote on Twitter. “The decision to send Leopards to Ukraine is a big step towards stopping Russia.”
In Washington, the administration of President Joe Biden is likely to make an announcement regarding shipments of the U.S.-made Abrams tanks to Ukraine as early as January 25, U.S. media reported, citing anonymous sources.
Two U.S. officials familiar with the matter told CNN that the administration was finalizing plans to send approximately 30 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
However, it remains unclear how fast such tanks could be delivered to Ukraine, and it could take months or even years for the U.S. war machines to reach the battlefront, media reports said.
There was no immediate reaction from the Pentagon.
Ukraine has been pressing Germany to deliver Leopard tanks to help it stave off Russia’s offensive in the east, but Berlin had been reluctant to go it alone in fulfilling the Ukrainian request, insisting it would only agree to give Leopard 2s to Ukraine if Washington also sent Abrams tanks.
After initially arguing that the high-tech Abrams tanks are not the right choice for the current stage of the war, since they require long and intensive training to operate and complicated maintenance, U.S. officials appear to have changed their position.
“If the Germans continue to say we will only send or release Leopards on the conditions that Americans send Abrams, we should send Abrams,” Democratic Senator Chris Coons, a Biden ally, told Politico on January 24.
Britain has already said it will send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine.
Other allies, in Scandinavia for example, intend to go along with Germany in supplying their Leopard tanks to Kyiv, Spiegel wrote.
The Norwegian media reported late on January 24 that the government in Oslo is considering whether to send some of its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
NATO member Norway, which itself borders Russia, may contribute either four or eight of the country’s 36 Leopard 2 tanks, according to the Dagens Naeringsliv newspaper.
Russia reacted angrily to the latest reports about possible deliveries of U.S. tanks to Ukraine, with Moscow’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, saying that such a move would be a “another blatant provocation.”
Speaking in his nightly address on January 24, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said discussions over delivering Western battle tanks to his country “must end with decisions.”
“Decisions on real strengthening of our defense against terrorists. Allies have the required number of tanks. When the needed weighty decisions are made, we will be happy to thank you for each weighty decision. We are still working for this,” Zelenskiy said.
On the battlefield, Ukraine’s General Staff said in its January 25 report that despite suffering “numerous losses,” Russian troops kept up their offensive in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with attacks directed mainly on Bakhmut and Avdiyivka in Donetsk, where heavy fighting has been under way for months.
“The enemy, suffering numerous losses, still does not stop offensive actions in the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Novopavlivka directions. On Kupyansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson — it is being on the defensive,” the report said.
