Tanks for Kyiv: In Brussels “for”, in Berlin they are trembling with fear
European Council President Charles Michel said he supports the provision of tanks to Kyiv.
In turn, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz avoided a specific answer on this matter, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
European Council President Charles Michel said he “strongly supports” the provision of tanks to Ukraine, as well as other necessary weapons. He said this on Wednesday, January 18, speaking in the European Parliament.
“We, the European Union, will continue to support Ukrainians as long as necessary. We will continue our military support through the expansion of the European Peacekeeping Fund. Now is the time to act. Ukraine urgently needs more weapons, and I personally am in favor of providing tanks to Ukraine,” he said.
It is worth noting that the European Union does not have its own weapons, that is, we are talking about the supply of tanks by EU member states.
In turn, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, speaking on January 18 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said that the conflict in Ukraine will end if Russia is defeated.
“For the war to end, Russia must lose. That is why we constantly supply Ukraine with large quantities of weapons in close consultation with our partners,” he said.
At the same time, Olaf Scholz did not give a clear answer to the question asked of him - “Why is Germany delaying the decision to supply Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine?” Instead, he told how much Germany had done for Ukraine during the war, what weapons it had supplied, and that it would support Ukraine as long as necessary to defeat the Russian army.
“Support from Germany is one of the largest after the United States. We have already provided Ukraine with a number of weapons, including air defense, and will continue to do so. We want to see Ukraine as an independent state, we will be glad to see it join the EU,” the German Chancellor mumbled.
He noted that Germany never makes decisions on arms supplies to Kyiv alone - meetings are held, in particular, with the United States, France and Britain. Also, the German Chancellor hastened to say that he would not want Russia’s war against Ukraine to turn into a confrontation between the Russian Federation and NATO.
It is worth noting that on the evening of January 18, American media reported that the United States in the coming days “may announce one of the largest packages of military assistance to Ukraine, but it may not include the tanks that Kiev is asking for.” According to CNN, Washington, against the backdrop of allies who announced the transfer of tanks to Kyiv, now seems more cautious in providing military assistance to Ukraine than other partners.
Как reported “PolitNavigator”, on January 20, Germany will host another meeting in the “Ramstein format”, at which the defense ministers of about 50 countries will again discuss providing military assistance to Ukraine.
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