Ukraine has sharply criticized Germany’s continued hesitation in supplying Leopard main battle tanks. “Every day of delay means death for Ukrainians,” said Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak on Saturday, without explicitly naming Germany. The Baltic States jointly demanded that Berlin deliver Leopard tanks immediately.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has already announced that Ukrainian soldiers will be trained on Leopard tanks in Poland. On Saturday, the Russian army announced an offensive in the Zaporizhia region of southern Ukraine for the first time in months.
The “global indecisiveness” in terms of main battle tank supplies “is killing more of our people,” wrote presidential adviser Podoliak on Twitter, adding to Kiev’s western allies: “Think faster.”
In a joint message from the Baltic states that is rare in this form, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics wrote on Twitter that Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania called on Germany to “supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine immediately.”
This is “necessary to stop Russian aggression, help Ukraine and quickly restore peace in Europe,” Rinkevics wrote. As the “most powerful state in Europe”, Germany has “a special responsibility in this regard”.
No commitment in Ramstein
At the meeting of the Ukraine contact group at the US Ramstein Air Force Base in Rhineland-Palatinate on Friday, no decision was made on the delivery of Leopard tanks to Ukraine. However, the participants in the Ukraine meeting promised numerous other armaments to ward off the Russian attack.
Before the meeting in Ramstein, Poland and other EU and NATO countries had agreed to provide the Ukrainian army with German-made Leopard tanks. However, the federal government would have to give the green light for this.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Reznikov told the US foreign broadcaster Voice of America, countries “that already have Leopard tanks can start training missions for our tank crews”. With regard to Leopard deliveries from Germany, Resnikov stated that he hoped that Germany would make a decision after “internal consultations”. He is also in contact with the new Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) and is “optimistic”.
According to numerous military experts, modern main battle tanks would be a significant advantage for Kyiv – especially on the front in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is currently returning to the offensive after severe setbacks in the autumn.
Villages around Zaporizhia under fire
The Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Saturday that the Russian army had carried out “offensive operations” in the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia, taking “advantageous positions”. The ministry initially did not provide any further information.
The Ukrainian army reported in its situation report on Saturday morning that it had been “under fire” in a dozen villages in the Zaporizhia region the day before. The front line between the Ukrainian and Russian armies in the Zaporizhia region had previously changed little for several months.
Fierce fighting broke out again on Friday in Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine between the Ukrainian army and the Russian army, which is supported by the Wagner paramilitary group. A high-ranking US official advised Kyiv not to fixate on defending Bakhmut, but to use the time to prepare a counter-offensive against Russian troops.
Instead of sacrificing soldiers and ammunition in the fight for a strategically insignificant target, the US government is advising Ukraine to reorganize its troops and use US-led training programs to deploy a sophisticated and heavily armed force in an offensive in southern Ukraine to be able to send country.
Appropriate weapons for a spring offensive are currently being sent to Ukraine, including several hundred armored vehicles in the past few days alone, the government representative said.
Meanwhile in Kiev on Saturday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj and his wife Olena Zelenska honored the Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj, who died in a helicopter crash on Wednesday that killed 14 people. Dressed in black, Zelensky and his wife brought flowers to the funeral service. (AFP)
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