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Pressure mounts on Germany to agree to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine
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Pressure is building on Germany to approve sending Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
Western allies are meeting to discuss further military support for Kyiv amid fears of a renewed offensive by the Kremlin over the coming months.
Defence ministers and military chiefs from around 50 nations are expected to participate in the talks convened by US defence secretary Lloyd Austin at Ramstein – the main US airbase in Europe – in Germany.
It follows the announcement at the weekend that the UK is to become the first nation to respond to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for modern western tanks with the dispatch of 14 British Army Challenger 2s.
Speaking yesterday, ahead of today’s meeting, Mr Zelenksy said he expects “strong decisions” from Western countries.
Germany has previously said it will only send Leopard 2 battle tanks whenever Washington confirms that it is willing to do so.
Pressure is building on Germany to approve sending Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
Western allies are meeting to discuss further military support for Kyiv amid fears of a renewed offensive by the Kremlin over the coming months.
Defence ministers and military chiefs from around 50 nations are expected to participate in the talks convened by US defence secretary Lloyd Austin at Ramstein – the main US airbase in Europe – in Germany.
It follows the announcement at the weekend that the UK is to become the first nation to respond to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for modern western tanks with the dispatch of 14 British Army Challenger 2s.
Germany has previously said it will only send Leopard 2 battle tanks whenever Washington confirms that it is willing to do so.
French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to unveil his vision on Friday for modernising the military in his nuclear-armed country, taking into account the impact of the war in Ukraine and evolving threats around the world.
The plan is expected to include higher military spending in line with NATO expectations that members spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence.
Macron will present the outlines of a future military spending plan for 2024-2030 meant to take into account the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and to boost defense spending in the coming years to reinforce France’s domestic security and the country’s ability to operate abroad.
Macron is laying out the plan in a new year’s speech to civilian and military staff at the Mont-de-Marsan air base in southern France. He wants France’s military strategy to strengthen the country’s role as an independent global power.
Friday’s speech comes as defense officials from the U.S. and allies are meeting in Ramstein, Germany, to discuss further help for Ukraine.
Poland is ready to take “non-standard” action if Germany opposes sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, deputy foreign minister Pawel Jablonski told private radio RMF FM on Friday.
Asked whether sending tanks to Ukraine would be possible even with Germany opposition, Jablonski said, “I think that if there is strong resistance, we will be ready to take even such non-standard action … but let’s not anticipate the facts.”
The British defence ministry has said that the Russian Unified State Register showed that the proxy paramilitary Wagner Group had formally registered as a legal entity as of 27 December.
The mercenary group waging a bloodied battle in eastern Ukraine has “declared their core activity as ‘management consultancy’; no mention was made of combat services,” the defence ministry said today in its latest intelligence update.
Wagner almost certainly now commands up to 50,000 fighters in Ukraine and has become a key component of the Ukraine campaign, the ministry said, and added that the registration likely aims to maximise Prigozhin’s commercial gain and to further legitimise the increasingly high-profile organisation.
“It is not yet clear to what extent the ‘PMC Wagner Centre’ entity will be used to administer Wagner’s paramilitary activity. Private Military Companies (PMCs) remain illegal in Russia, despite protracted discussion about reforming the law,” the MoD noted.
According to the intelligence, Wagner’s owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has likely partially funded the organisation via inflated government contracts awarded to his other companies.
“The registration continues the remarkably rapid development of the traditionally opaque group’s public profile. Prigozhin only admitted to founding Wagner in September 2022; in October 2022, it opened a glossy HQ in St Petersburg,” the ministry said.
A group of 11 Nato countries, including Britain and Poland, have pledged an “unprecedented” raft of new military aid to support Ukraine‘s war with Russia - but the big question of whether to send heavy Leopard 2 tanks remains unanswered, with Germany yet to lift a veto (Max Hunder writes).
Speaking during a visit to Estonia, the UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace said the UK will be supplying a further 600 Brimstone precision-guided missiles in addition to its latest support package, which includes 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks.
“In 2023, it is time to turn the momentum that the Ukrainians have achieved in pushing back Russia into gains and making sure Russia understands that the purpose now is to push them back out of Ukraine and to restore Ukraine’s sovereignty, which is their right under international law,” he said.
“We commit to collectively pursuing delivery of an unprecedented set of donations including main battle tanks, heavy artillery, air defence, ammunition, and infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine’s defence,” a joint statement said.
‘I am moderately moderately pessimistic because the Germans are defending themselves against this like a devil protects himself against holy water,’ says Polish PM
Top officials in Ukraine have raised the pitch of seeking help from allies and said that the weaponry is needed to defend the war-hit nation, not to attack Russia.
“From Washington to London, from Paris to Warsaw, you hear one thing: Ukraine needs tanks. Tanks are the key to ending the war properly. It is time to stop trembling before Putin and take the final step,” Volodymyr Zelensky’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said.
Ukraine needed the tanks to defend itself, recapture occupied land, and did not plan to attack Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday.
Ukrainian military officials have said that the fighting continued to be most intense in the strategic industrial region known as the Donbas on the war-hit country’s eastern border with Russia.
Russian forces shelled the town of Bakhmut, Russia’s main target in Donetsk province, which combined with Luhansk province forms the Donbas, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said last night. Soledar, about 20km (12 miles) from Bakhmut, also came under fire.
The territory has been contested by Russia and Ukraine alike as Moscow says that they have seized the Donbas town but Ukrainian sources say their military is still fighting in Soledar.
“Ukrainian forces have practically stabilised the front around Bakhmut,” Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said.
“As of today, Russia is turning Soledar into a military hub. And they are trying to redirect troops towards the towns of Spirne and Bilohorivka – just inside the Luhansk region,” he said.
Russia will remain a threat to Nato even if its forces are defeated in Ukraine, a top military official in the Western alliance said today.
“Whatever the outcome of the war, the Russians will most likely have similar ambitions … therefore the threat does not go away,” Admiral Rob Bauer, the chairman of Nato’s military committee, told reporters at the alliance’s Brussels headquarters.
While Russian forces, equipment and ammunition have all been depleted by the war, Nato countries expect Moscow will try to rebuild and even strengthen its military capacity, Mr Bauer said.
“The general belief is that the Russians will reconstitute what they had, they will also learn from this conflict themselves and try to improve what they had,” said Mr Bauer, speaking at the end of a two-day meeting of top military officers from Nato member countries.
Volodymyr Zelensky has said that his government is expecting “strong decisions” from Nato’s defence leaders and other nations meeting today in Berlin.
“We are, in fact, now waiting for a decision from one European capital, which will activate the prepared chains of cooperation regarding tanks,” Mr Zelensky said in a video address last night.
He added: “We are preparing for the Ramstein meeting tomorrow. We are expecting strong decisions. We are expecting a powerful military aid package from the United States.”
The Netherlands is finalising plans to provide Patriot air missile defence systems to Ukraine with Germany and the United States and will announce further military support to Kyiv on Friday, defence minister Kajsa Ollongren.
Dozens of Ukraine’s allies meet on Friday at a US army base in Ramstein, Germany, with billions of dollars in new weapons to be pledged.
“We are joining the United States, Germany in their project to provide Patriots to Ukraine,” Ms Ollongren told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We are working out details and will provide details in Ramstein.”
A major question mark remains on whether German-made Leopard battle tanks, which are held by an array of Nato nations but whose transfer to Ukraine requires Germany’s approval, will be on the table today. Germany yesterday said it would not approve the Leopard’s unless Washington pledged to send US-made tanks.
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