The United States and Germany are expected to greenlight sending modern tanks to Ukraine, multiple sources say, in an important U-turn that Kyiv hopes will alter the balance on the battlefield as Russia piles massive pressure on Ukrainian defenders in the Donbas.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is set to announce the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine on January 25 in an address to parliament, two officials with knowledge of the matter told Politico.
Scholz is also expected to announce that Germany will allow other allies such as Poland to send their Leopard tanks to Ukraine, one source said.
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German magazine Der Spiegel also reported on January 24 that Scholz had decided to give Ukraine Leopard tanks.
Der Spiegel said Germany would send “at least one company of Leopard 2A6s.” A company is usually made up of 14 tanks.
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 has reportedly been reluctant to go it alone in fulfilling the Ukrainian request.
German officials had reportedly insisted they 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.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on January 24 that he was confident the alliance will find a solution soon on the delivery of battle tanks to Ukraine.
“At this pivotal moment in the war, we must provide heavier and more advanced systems to Ukraine, and we must do it faster,” Stoltenberg told reporters, after talks with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
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.
