War in Ukraine: Britain sends tanks to Kiev, Germany considers sending 60-ton ‘beasts’

The Russian military aggression on Ukraine started almost 11 months ago. The transformation that gave the European military support he is Copernican. In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the increase in Western arms deliveries to Kiev on Monday.

If in the first weeks Berlin had announced the sending of a few thousand helmets, this week the head of government, the social democrat Olaf Scholz, has the papers on his table to authorize the sending of heavy tanks Leopard 2a weapon more powerful than Russian tanks and vastly superior to the Soviet-made T-72s Ukraine possesses.

The pressure on Scholz to make a decision as soon as possible It is huge. In addition to the Ukrainian president Volodimir Zelensky, there are several European heads of government who are already asking Berlin to take a step forward.

Being German-made, and by contract, it is Germany that must authorize the possible re-export of these tanks, which are in the arsenals of more than a dozen countries Europeans and a total of over 2,000 units. Poland is putting the most pressure, but in addition to Poland, when the shipment of the tanks is approved, countries such as Greece, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland or Spain will be able to join the plan.

Of the three parties in the German government coalition (Social Democrats, Ecologists and Liberals), only the former have not yet yielded. Environmentalists did just that last week when their leader and government number two, Robert Habeck, said that if Poland asks for permission to re-export its Leopard 2s to Ukraine, the German government should not refuse.

“We must not stand in the way when other countries make decisions to support Ukraine, whatever decision Germany takes.”

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski said his government was “encouraging other countries to form a broad coalition to transfer the most modern tanks to Ukraine, such as the Leopard 2”. Poland assures that it is already negotiating with Denmark, as well as Finland, according to its president Sauli Niinistö.

This Monday the pressure continued. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, visiting Berlin, called on the German government to send the tanks or at least allow other countries to send them.

The British challengers

The first official announcement was made this weekend by the British government, which will send 14 Challenger 2 heavy tanksa weapon equivalent to the German Leopard 2 or the American Abrams.

Until now, Kiev’s European allies have been reluctant to send arms from this power because they believe it would be a provocation to Russia that could lead to a military escalation.

the Russian offensive

These reluctances have dissipated in recent months as the Russian military began to bomb without rhyme or reason, coincidentally, civilian buildings with long-range missiles, latterly with missiles designed for attack on the high seas. For the European Union they are war crimes and terrorism.

One of those missiles hit this weekend a residential building in the city of Dnipro. The building collapsed and buried dozens of people. The Ukrainian authorities have already removed 40 bodies from the rubble.

kyiv wants at least 300 heavy tanks. Sending these bombs would eliminate another taboo on European aid to Ukraine and Germany has already backtracked a bit when in December it authorized the shipment of the Marder light armored vehicles, which would join similar US vehicles, the Bradleys . Community sources await the green light from Berlin on Friday, when the Ramstein group (named after the US military base in Germany) will meet.

Ukraine needs heavy tanks to face Russian troops in a war that is increasingly that of fixed fronts, of attrition, more classic.

The leopard 2 it’s a 60-ton beast with a 120mm gun. Its second version has improvements in all aspects over Leopard 1 which is little used. The Leopards 2 They are fasterThey have better technologies and more armor.

After days of one of the fiercest battles of the war, Ukrainian authorities have acknowledged that Russian troops already control the city of Soledar, a crossroads between the cities of Lugansk and Kharkov in eastern Ukraine, which Russia is asking to annex. . Russian troops had announced his capture days earlier.

Brussels, especially for clarion

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