RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany: The United States and its allies failed during talks in Germany to convince Berlin to provide its Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, a key demand from Kyiv as it tries to breath new momentum into its fight against Russian forces.
As protesters in Berlin called on their government to provide the tanks, the talks among military leaders at Ramstein Air Base ended without any such agreement.
Berlin said it would move quickly to allow allies to transfer Leopards in their own arsenals to Ukraine, if a consensus was found. But even that appeared to be inconclusive.
As the talks concluded, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged Kyiv will have to keep fighting to ensure it has enough heavy armour. But he said the Ramstein meeting, which ended with billions of dollars in commitments, would strengthen Ukraine's resilience.
"Yes, we will still have to fight for the delivery of modern tanks, but every day we make it more obvious that there is no alternative to taking a decision about tanks," he said.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose Social Democrat party is traditionally deeply sceptical of military involvements and wary of sudden moves that could cause Moscow to escalate further in Ukraine, insists Germany will only move in concert with allies, a position echoed by new defence minister Boris Pistorius.
"There are good reasons for the (tank) deliveries and there are good reasons against, and in view of the entire situation of a war that has been ongoing for almost one year, all pros and cons must be weighed very carefully," he said, without elaborating on the reasons.
"There clearly is no unified view. The impression that has occasionally arisen, that there is a closed coalition and Germany was standing in the way, this impression is wrong."
He said Germany would start preparing tanks so they were ready to go if allies did agree to send them. It was unclear whether any country other than Germany opposes the move.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vd29ybGQvZ2VybWFueS1yYW1zdGVpbi1zdW1taXQtZmFpbHMtYWdyZWUtbGVvcGFyZC10YW5rcy11a3JhaW5lLTMyMjE4MDHSAQA?oc=5
2023-01-20 20:11:00Z
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