Monitoring Desk
BERLIN: Germany said Tuesday that allies could start training Ukrainian forces to use the Leopard tanks desperately sought by Kyiv to repel Russian forces, provoking a defiant response from Russia.
Germany stopped short of granting permission for the Leopard tanks to be sent to Ukraine but maintained that the pending decision was imminent.
Poland sought to push Germany to quickly announce its decision, with Warsaw putting forward a formal application for the transfer of the Leopard tanks stocks to Ukraine.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was battling a major corruption scandal within his government, sacking several government officials over graft while other officials resigned.
For weeks, Ukraine has been urging Germany to allow the export of powerful German-made Leopard tanks, but Berlin has so far declined to give the green light.
Germany says Leopard tanks will soon available to Ukraine
Last week, a US-led meeting of Kyiv’s allies in Germany failed to make a decision despite a growing clamour from various European countries ready to export the Leopard tanks.
Defence Minister Boris Pistorius on Tuesday indicated that a decision could be made soon, saying he had “expressly encouraged allied countries that have German-made Leopard tanks that are available for deployment to start training Ukrainian troops on these tanks.”
“I expect a decision to be made very soon,” he added ahead of his meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Berlin.
Stoltenberg welcomed the “clear message” from the defence minister “because after a decision has been taken on the delivery of battle tanks, it will take some time to prepare these tanks for delivery” and to train Ukrainian forces to use them.
“We must provide powerful and more advanced systems to Ukraine, and we must do it faster,” Stoltenberg said, adding that he expected a decision by Berlin “soon.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov maintained that the delivery of the Leopard tanks would “bring nothing good to the future ties” between Berlin and Moscow.
“They will leave lasting effects on bilateral relations,” he warned.
Pistorius had emphasized earlier that Berlin was not opposed to Leopard deliveries but had not decided yet.
