Monitoring Desk
KYIV: Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked the leaders for sending western tanks in support of their fight against Russia but said they need to be delivered quickly.
In his nightly address, Zelensky also urged the West to send long-range missiles and fighter jets. His comments came after the Germany and the US announced they would send Leopard and Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
Russia, however, condemned the decision as a “blatant provocation” adding any supplied tanks would be destroyed. The tanks would “burn like all the rest,” said President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov. “They are just very expensive.”
Zelensky said he told Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that there must be progress in other aspects of their defence cooperation. Ukraine is seeking supplies of long-range missiles and artillery. He pressed not only for a prompt delivery of the Western tanks but also for significant numbers. “We must form such a tank force, such a freedom force that after it strikes, tyranny will never again rise up.”
While Ukraine president is likely to focus now on equipping the country’s air force with more technologically-advanced fighter jets after securing the tanks, many European nations remain opposed to such a move fearing the aircraft could be used to strike targets inside Russia.
Outlining the details of the tanks plan in his speech to the Bundestag in Berlin a day earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisted there would be “no fighter jet deliveries to Ukraine”.
US President Joe Biden Wednesday announced that his country would send 31 M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine. The decision to deliver the tanks was announced hours after Germany stated it would send 14 of its Leopard 2s to the Ukrainian battlefield.
Way paved for western nations to donate western tanks
Germany also cleared the way for other European nations to donate German-made tanks from their own stocks. Ukraine has lobbied Western allies to send the equipment for months. The country hailed the two announcements as a turning point that would allow its military to regain momentum and take back occupied territory almost a year after Moscow invaded. It also said the tanks could help deter a potential Russian offensive in the spring.
