The Contact Group for Ukrainewhich is made up of Kyiv’s Western allies, is meeting today at the US base in ramstein (Germany) for a ministerial meeting focused on the demand for greater military support to that country against Russia, including the supply of Leopard tanks.
The meeting was attended by the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenbergthe United States Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austinand Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, as well as his counterparts from Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland, among others.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain will also attend, Jose Manuel Albares, who has assured that “we are not going to spare any option so that peace returns to Ukraine as soon as possible”. This without clarifying whether or not the Executive will support the shipment of more weapons to Ukraine. “Spain has a working method and it is: all together, making decisions that we believe is what helps Ukraine the most,” she defended.
The appointment is preceded by Kyiv’s claim to its allies so that “considerably reinforce” arms supplies, including “leopard” German-made, expressed yesterday in a joint statement by Reznikov together with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba.
The text explicitly welcomed the UK’s decision to transfer a Challenger 2 armored squadron, although it warned that this contribution “is not enough” in the face of Russia’s “substantial quantitative advantage in troops, weapons and equipment”.
Kyiv called on the States that have Leopard 2 to join those supplies and listed Germany, Canada, Spain, Denmark, Finland, GreeceNorway, Poland, Sweden and Turkey, among others.
Ukraine’s demand comes amid strong pressure on Berlin, including from allies such as Poland, to authorize shipments of “Leopard” to allies that have this type of tank. Any supply of these German-made armored vehicles requires the berlin clearance.
In an interview last night on ARD public television, the president himself Volodimir Zelenskyinsisted in his demand: “You can continue talking about it for six months, but in my country people die every day“, affirmed the Ukrainian leader. “If you have ‘Leopards’, give them to us,” Zelensky insisted, to reject the German government’s argument that a decision will not be taken alone, but in consensus with its allies: “The ‘Leopard’ they will not circulate in the Russian Federation. They are to defend us“, he claimed.
Germany has so far refused to authorize the shipment of these active combat tanks to other NATO countries, stating that such a decision can only be taken “in coordination” with the allies.
In German media there has been progress that could lift this veto if the United States allows the shipment of its Abrams tankssomething complex, since these require more training and support than the Leopard.
The Pentagon rejected such a shipment last night, among other things because the Abrams need jet fuelUkraine does not have.
The question weighs on the new German defense minister, Boris Pistoriuswho took office on Thursday and held a first meeting yesterday with his US counterpart Austin.
The pressures from Ukraine were added yesterday by the demands expressed in a previous meeting in Estonia between ministers or senior defense officials from ten NATO countries, who spoke out for the shipment to kyiv of more heavy weapons, including tanks.
The meeting at Ramstein, the largest US military base in Europe, will open at 08:00 GMT and Austin is scheduled to speak to the media around 14:30 GMT.
Source: Lasexta
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