If Poland decides to deliver Leopard tanks to Ukraine without Germany’s authorization, Berlin will not oppose it, declared this Sunday January 22 the head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, in a interview granted to LCI “I understood how important these tanks are, we are fully aware of that.” The German politician had traveled to Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine.
Poland and Finland have offered to deliver Leopard tanks that they own, but they need official approval from Berlin for re-export. However, the German Chancellor is still reluctant to comment on the issue. On Sunday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki once again stepped up to the plate, calling Berlin’s refusal to supply kyiv heavy tanks “unacceptable”. Poland has hinted that it could do without Germany’s authorization in the absence of a decision from Berlin.
Germany will not “oppose” Poland’s desire to deliver Leopard tanks to Ukraine, which is insistently demanding them, if Warsaw asks for permission, the head of German diplomacy said on Sunday. Annalena Baerbock. “If we were asked the question, we would not oppose it,” said the minister of the Greens party, which governs in coalition with the Social Democrats of Olaf Scholz and the Liberals about the delivery to kyiv of these German-made tanks.
“For the moment, the question has not been asked” by Poland, required to make an official request to Berlin, said the minister, interviewed in Paris on the French channel LCI. In an interview with German television ARD, the German Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, affirmed for his part almost at the same time that “the decision […] depends on many factors and is taken to the chancellery”. Boris Pistorius, a social democrat like Chancellor Scholz, was not questioned by the journalist on the declarations of Annalena Baerbock.
The German government is under increasing pressure to supply Ukraine with Leopard heavy tanks, which could have a significant impact on the battlefield against Russian troops. Poland and Finland have offered to deliver Leopards that they own, but need official approval from Berlin for re-export. On Twitter, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Sunday: “We will not sit idly by and watch Ukraine bleed to death. If we don’t get Germany’s agreement on Leopards, we will build a smaller coalition of countries willing to donate some of their modern tanks to a fighting Ukraine.”
France does not rule out delivering Leclerc heavy combat tanks to Ukraine to support it in its war against Russia, Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday alongside Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “As for the Leclercs, I asked the Minister of the Armed Forces to work on it. Nothing is excluded and this is indeed appreciated collectively”, declared the French president, while Olaf Scholz, questioned on the Leopards, said that “the way we have acted in the past is always closely coordinated with our friends and allies and we will continue to act according to the concrete situation”.
In almost a year of clashes, the war in Ukraine has left nearly 180,000 dead or injured in the ranks of the Russian army, and 100,000 on the Ukrainian side, not counting 30,000 civilians killed, according to estimates given on Sunday by the chief of the Norwegian army. “Russian losses are beginning to approach around 180,000 dead or wounded soldiers,” said Norwegian Chief of Staff Eirik Kristoffersen in an interview with TV2, without specifying the origin of these figures. Norway, a country bordering Russia, has been a member of NATO since its founding in 1949.
“Ukrainian losses are probably over 100,000 dead or wounded. In addition Ukraine has about 30,000 civilians who died in this terrible war,” added the Norwegian general. Russia and Ukraine have not given reliable accounts of their losses for months.
A senior Ukrainian ministerial official suspected of embezzlement was sacked on Sunday, while an internal audit was launched at the Ministry of Defense after press revelations about an alleged contract signed at an inflated price. “The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine orders the dismissal of VM Lozynkiy as Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on Telegram.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) arrested Vasyl Lozynkiï on suspicion of embezzlement. Vasyl Lozynkiï, in office since May 2020, “received (400,000 dollars) to facilitate the conclusion of contracts for the purchase of equipment and generators at inflated prices”, had indicated the NABU in a press release.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed that Ukraine will not tolerate corruption and promised to take key decisions to root it out this week. “I want to be clear: there will be no return to what was in the past, to the way various people close to state institutions lived or those who spent their whole lives chasing after a chair,” he said in his Sunday newspaper. Volodymyr Zelensky added that his government sacked a deputy minister after an investigation into allegations that he accepted a bribe.
