© Sean Gallup / Getty ImagesKiev's backers could not reach a "unanimous opinion" on the matter, according to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius
DoD News reports that Austin is already in Germany and is set to travel to Ramstein Air Base to meet with Pistorius, who has just been appointed to his role, to work on "unlocking" German Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine.
The meeting is a prelude to a summit of the so-called Ukraine Defense Contact Group scheduled for later this week, which will see defense ministers from across Europe convene to discuss further military aid to Kiev.
US officials have claimed that Russia is preparing a spring offensive in Ukraine and have stressed the importance of providing Kiev's forces with the necessary equipment, such as air defense systems and artillery, to fend off Moscow's assaults and launch counterattacks of their own.
"But what's really important at this point is providing Ukraine with armor capabilities, and in particular, maneuver armor capabilities," a senior defense official was quoted as saying by the DoD.
While the US and its partners have already provided a total of about 900 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine, the Pentagon insists that the most crucial step is to provide Kiev with modern mechanized armored capabilities such as the German-made Leopard 2 - the most "immediately accessible and usable tank capability" in Europe, according to the Department of Defense.
The Leopard 2 heavy tank is currently operated by over a dozen European countries, some of which, notably Poland and Finland, have already said they are willing to pass on to Ukraine. However, in order to do this they must first receive a third-party transfer approval from Germany, which has so far refused to furnish this, insisting the US must first commit its own Abrams tanks to Kiev.
Russia, meanwhile, has continued to insist that any weapons being sent to Ukraine only served to prolong the conflict and lead to more unnecessary bloodshed. German tanks "will burn like the rest" of Western weapons, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.
Reader Comments
Flat out wrong. Lancet 3M/N munitions are HE Thermobaric capable, GPS moving target lock capable & able to slice through armor like a knife through butter. A German Leopard is approx. 13-15 M Euros ea. - $9+ million dollars for Abrams A1-A2 vs. a $15,000.00 USD Drone. It will be a good battlefield T&E theatre if it happens.
More War Drum Psychodrama less cowbell. With the UkroNazi’s & NATO PROXYSTUTES already showing heavy loses of especially tanks, throwing more tanks into the battlefield meat grinder b/c of the Lancet 3 - Zara loitering munitions drone efficacy somehow changes that factual dynamic in what way ?
Russia has complete Air superiority. Without any Air support tanks are easily slaughtered by any capable loitering HE Thermobaric munition drone.
A10 Warthogs are/will be replaced as Tank killers by Zara Lancet 3 drones @ a substantial savings especially when you factor in Pilot training & sustenance, benefits, maintenance costs. A10’s were effective in other theatre's of operation mostly due to US having Air superiority. Ukraine is a different AO.
Maybe he will tell them that )ews in the US of A will stop buying Mercedes, BMW, Porsche and Audi cars.
However, even though some experts say that the Ukrainians are not trained for European tanks, I suspect a number of teams from Europe will be driving these, ie Nato bods. So never underestimate the hyper aggressive cretins who presently rule the West.
For example, Alternative for Germany MP Peter Bistron reminded his colleagues of recent German history:
"Dear colleagues, you are discussing interesting things here. So German tanks in the war against Russia in Ukraine - your grandfathers already tried that with various Melniks and Banderovs. And what did it lead to?" - his words are interrupted by disgruntled cries.
But he continues without paying attention: "Unspeakable suffering, millions dead on both sides and finally Russian tanks in Berlin. Two of them are still standing here in Berlin, you all go to work around them every morning and you should remember!"
At the end of the speech, he literally screamed.
As Ruská Vesna reported, Bistron already reminded the Bundestag of Vladimir Putin's Munich speech in March, which proposed a common security architecture in Europe, but Europe rejected it.
"You ignored all the warnings: from Russia itself and from the German army, you cornered Russia and the result was war in Europe," he said at the time.
"And you are also to blame for what is happening in Ukraine now," he concluded, drawing applause.
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