Germany’s government has answered repeated calls by Kyiv and approved the delivery of 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.
The move represents an important U-turn in the Western allies’ stance that Kyiv hopes will alter the balance on the battlefield as Russia piles massive pressure on Ukrainian defenders in Donbas, where Ukraine on January 25 confirmed that it had completely withdrawn from the strategic town of Soledar.
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s ongoing invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war, click here.
A statement issued by German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Berlin’s goal was to quickly establish two battalions with Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine, adding that it would, in the first stage, provide 14 tanks from its military stocks.
“The first tank step has been taken,” said Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, adding he hopes this will be the start of a “tank coalition” to address Kyiv’s needs.
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.
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.”
The Russian ambassador to Germany, Sergei Nechayev, reacted angrily to Berlin’s announcement, calling it “extrremely dangerous” and accused Berlin of being “inclined to permanent escalation” of the conflict.
WATCH: Western-supplied weapons, including self-propelled howitzers, are helping Ukrainian troops in their efforts to recapture territories occupied by enemy troops.
“This extremely dangerous decision moves the conflict to a new level of the standoff and contradicts German politicians’ statements about Germany’s unwillingness to get involved in it,” he said, adding that “Germany, like its close allies, is not interested in a diplomatic resolution of the Ukrainian crisis, and is inclined to its permanent escalation and limitless pumping-up of the Kyiv regime with more deadly weapons.”
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the West’s policy decisions, including sending the tanks, were creating a “very, very tense” security situation in Europe and for the world as a whole.
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.
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.
Spain said that in response to Germany’s move, it was “open” to sending Leopard tanks to Ukraine as well.
In an apparent battlefield setback, Ukrainian forces on January 25 admitted that they had completed the withdrawal from the strategic town of Soledar in Donetsk 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.
“After months of heavy fighting, including over the past weeks, the armed forces of Ukraine left (Soledar) and retreated along the outskirts to preprepared positions,” AFP quoted Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatiy as saying.
Russia earlier this month claimed to have established control over the salt-mining town with a prewar population of around 10,000. Soledar is located some 20 kilometers from the strategic city of Bakhmut, where pitched battles have been under way for months without either side prevailing.
Earlier on January 25, the Ukrainian military said that despite suffering “numerous losses,” Russian troops kept up their offensive in 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.
