Germany said no decision was taken at the allies’ meeting in Ramstein on Friday on the delivery of heavy tanks to Ukraine, dampening the hopes of kyiv, which is crying out for them to repel the Russian invasion.
If the question of the delivery of Leopard tanks has been discussed, “no decision has been taken”, declared the new German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius, without being able to say when it would fall.
“It was clear that the positions are far from being as homogeneous as one might think”, he estimated on the sidelines of the Ramstein meeting which brings together the Ministers of Defense and senior military officials of around fifty of country.
A press conference is to be held after the match, starting at 4:30 p.m. local time.
Poland and Finland have offered to deliver such armaments, but any shipment of German war material must receive the green light from Berlin.
Mr. Pistorius, in office only since Thursday, rejected “the impression” that his country opposes their delivery, ensuring that Berlin was acting and launching an inventory of Leopard stocks available to its army and industry.
At the opening of the meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zekensky had urged the allies to speed up their deliveries of heavy weapons.
“It is in your power” to “launch a major supply that will stop evil,” he said via video link.
The Kremlin immediately replied that it would not change anything on the ground.
Western countries maintain the “illusion” of a possible Ukrainian victory “on the battlefield”, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“Decisive moment” for Ukraine
Experts say modern, Western-designed heavy tanks would be a crucial advantage for kyiv in looming battles in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is back on the offensive after suffering heavy setbacks this winter.
The besieged city of Bakhmout, the current epicenter of the fighting, was again violently bombarded on Friday, AFP journalists noted.
“Look, look, it’s my apartment, it’s the only apartment I have,” lamented Olga, contemplating with Mykola, her husband, her building burning after a strike.
Russian occupation authorities said on Friday they noted a “sharp increase in the intensity” of fighting in the southern Zaporizhia region, where clashes are taking place “along the entire front line”.
In Ramstein, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin pleaded for increased military aid to kyiv. “We have to dig deeper, this is a defining moment for Ukraine,” he warned.
Within hours of these discussions, the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark had announced substantial new arms deliveries to the country.
Washington will release $2.5 billion in new military aid, including 59 Bradley armored vehicles, which will add to the 50 such light armored vehicles promised on January 6, and 90 Stryker armored personnel carriers, according to the Pentagon.
This new installment does not include any heavy tanks, such as the Abrams.
The United Kingdom has pledged to send Ukraine 600 additional Brimstone missiles, Denmark 19 French-made Caesar guns, and Sweden Archer self-propelled guns.
Finland on Friday announced military aid of 400 million euros to Ukraine, its largest contribution to date, which includes artillery and ammunition.
First humanitarian convoy to Soledar
An adviser to Mr. Zelensky, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, on Thursday called on Westerners to stop “trembling before Putin” and to deliver heavy armor but also long-range missile systems to be able to hit the Russian supply chain, in particular the depots of ammunition.
But Westerners fear that kyiv could escalate by using these weapons to strike deep into Russian territory and air and naval bases in Crimea, a peninsula annexed in 2014 by Russia.
Meanwhile, the UN announced on Friday the arrival of a first humanitarian convoy in the vicinity of Soledar, a town in eastern Ukraine whose capture was claimed last week by the Russian army and mercenaries. of the Wagner group.
kyiv is contesting the capture of Soledar, a small town near Bakhmout.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has also claimed to have arrested “seven Russian agents” in the Dnipro region, suspected of spying for Moscow and of possibly being involved in the attack on an apartment building. in this city which had killed at least 45 people, including six children.