Germany should send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and let other European nations do the same

Germany sends Leopard 2 main battle tanks Ukraine and authorize the re-export of the same type of tanks from partner countries, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

“This decision follows our well-known line of supporting Ukraine to the best of our ability. We act internationally in a closely coordinated manner,” said Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

Germany said it would initially provide 14 Leopard 2 tanks from its military stocks, with the goal of raising two battalions, as well as providing ammunition and logistics. Training for Ukrainian troops will begin shortly in Germany, and other European partners will be allowed to ship tanks from their stocks to Ukraine, for which they have been awaiting approval from Germany as the manufacturing nation.

The United States will too Send main battle tanks to Ukraine. After months of President Biden insisting that his M-1 Abrams were too complex to maintain and operate, President Biden said Wednesday Washington will supply 31 of the best tanks to Ukrainian troops, giving them new battlefield capabilities against dug-in tanks enter Russian Armed Forces.

However, US officials said it would likely take many months for the American tanks to arrive in Ukraine as Ukrainian forces still needed training.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday that sending western tanks to Ukraine was a “failed plan” and an “overestimate of the potential this will add to the Ukrainian army.”

“These tanks will burn like all the others,” he explained.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that even if Ukraine’s western partners provided fewer tanks than Russia has on the battlefield, the support would boost the morale of its forces.

“They only do one very important thing – they motivate our soldiers to fight for their own values, because they show that the whole world is with you,” Zelenskyy told ARD.