KYIV/BERLIN, Jan 19 (Reuters) – Ukraine pleaded on Thursday for the West to send heavy tanks as defense officials from the United States and Germany move to combat weapons that Kyiv says could decide the future of the war.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will be in Germany on Thursday to meet with his new defense minister, a day before a meeting of dozens of allies to provide arms to Ukraine.
The meeting, at the US Ramstein air base in Germany, is presented as an opportunity to provide weapons to change the war in 2023.
On top of that are heavy tanks, which Kyiv says are needed to counter a new Russian offensive and launch a counterattack to retake the territory it has seized.
“We don’t have time, the country doesn’t have time now,” Andriy Yermak, Ukraine’s presidential candidate, wrote on the Telegraph news program on Thursday.
“The question of tanks in Ukraine should be closed soon,” he said. “We are slowly paying with the lives of our Ukrainians. It shouldn’t be like that.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made a similar appeal via video link to leaders gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, urging them to give his country before Russia raises its arms and weapons.
“The supply of Western tanks should be able to withstand further attacks on Russian tanks,” Zelenskiy said.
But in order for the West to send tanks, Washington must end a standoff with Berlin, which has stopped accepting international shipments of its Leopard 2 tanks, the mainstay of Europe’s military.
Washington and many Western organizations say the Leopards – which Germany built by the thousands during the Cold War and sent to its allies – are the only viable option available in large enough numbers.
The German government said Berlin would withdraw its objections if Washington sent its Abrams tanks. But U.S. officials say the Abrams is inappropriate for Ukraine, because it runs turbine engines that use too much fuel in Kyiv’s strained logistics system to make deliveries.
Poland and Finland have already said they will send Leopards if Germany lifts its veto, and other countries have indicated they are willing to do so. Britain added to the pressure by breaching the heavy tank order last week, donating a fleet of Challengers, though fewer of these are available than Leopards.
Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s top policy adviser, said Wednesday that Abrams tanks would not be included in Washington’s $2 billion military aid package, which would include Stryker armored vehicles.
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“I don’t think we’re there yet,” Kahl said. “The Abrams tank is a very complex weapon. It’s expensive. It’s difficult to train. It has a jet engine.”
Germany replaced its defense minister this week and said the tank decision was the first item on the list of new prime minister Boris Pistorius, due to a meeting in Austin.
Ukraine, which has relied heavily on Soviet-era T-72 tanks, says the new tanks will give its army the firepower to repel Russian forces in major battles.
Western tanks have more effective armor and better guns than Soviet-era tanks, which suffered hundreds of casualties on both sides during the 11-month war in Ukraine.
Fighting has intensified in the south and east of Ukraine, after an initial Russian threat from the north to take Kyiv failed in the first months of Russia’s “special military operation”.
After the great success of Ukraine in the second half of 2022, the advances have been stopped in the last two months, and neither side has gained much despite the heavy casualties in the fierce battles.
“Things ahead are still difficult,” Zelenskiy said in a video speech on Wednesday. “We are seeing a gradual increase in attacks and attempts to do offensive things by the attackers.”
Andreas Rinke reports in Berlin and the Reuters bureaux; By Grant McCool and Himani Sarkar; Edited by Simon Cameron-Moore and Angus MacSwan
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