Pressed from all sides to accept the delivery of Leopard battle tanks to kyiv, Olaf Scholz would wait for the United States to do the same with the Abrams tanks.
Lermany is ready to supply Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine if the United States also supplies Abrams-type battle tanks. This is what German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden, the newspaper reports. Suddeutsche Zeitung Wednesday.
The newspaper Picture writes, based on anonymous sources, that Scholz wants to allow not only his own deliveries of Leopards, but also deliveries of German tanks by NATO partners. Poland, among others, is ready to supply Leopards. Bild also cites as a condition that the United States must come with American tanks. In doing so, the German government wants NATO to show unity.
The pressure on Mr. Scholz to make decisions on tanks destined for Ukraine has increased significantly in recent days. Next Friday, kyiv’s Western allies will meet at the US base in Ramstein, Germany, to discuss further deliveries.
The risk of diversion of weapons sent to Ukraine is underestimated
Twenty countries in the world have modern modern Leopard 2 tanks. These are produced in Germany and the sales contracts stipulate that the German government must approve the transfers of these combat vehicles.
United States Response
Later in the evening, a senior Pentagon official rightly said that the United States is not ready to supply Ukraine with its most advanced heavy tanks, the Abrams. He justified this refusal by questions of maintenance and training.
“I don’t think we’re there,” Pentagon number three Colin Kahl said, when asked during a press briefing about the possibility of sending Abrams tanks to kyiv after the announcement. last weekend from the UK, which was the first country to promise heavy tanks, Challenger 2s.
War in Ukraine: Chancellor Olaf Scholz forced to deliver combat tanks
“The Abrams tank is a very complicated piece of equipment. It’s expensive, it requires hard training, it has a jet engine. I believe it consumes eleven liters of kerosene per kilometer,” said Mr. Kahl, Undersecretary of Defense for Strategy. “It’s not the easiest system to maintain,” he added, though he didn’t rule out a change in the US position in the future.
He also noted that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has so far carefully avoided supplying the Ukrainians with armaments they “can’t fix, they can’t maintain and they can’t afford.” in the long term because it is of no interest”.
War in Ukraine: the West is careful not to fall into the trap of co-belligerence
