09/01/2023 22:05 (act. 09/01/2023 22:10)
London would deliver the Challenger 2 ©APA/AFP
According to media reports, Britain is considering delivering main battle tanks to Ukraine. Up to ten Challenger 2 vehicles can disembark to avoid Russian attacks, Sky News said on Monday, citing its own information. Previously, Poland had increased the pressure in the debate over the supply of Western main battle tanks to Ukraine, encouraging other countries to form a broad coalition to deliver more modern tanks.
Corresponding discussions with Great Britain have been going on for weeks. Such a move would also encourage other states to supply main battle tanks, said a “Ukrainian source” quoted by Sky News.
Also citing its own information, “Spiegel” wrote that among Western Ukraine’s supporters, London had already “announced without compromise” the possible delivery of a good dozen Challenger 2 systems. Officially, however, the decision will probably only be presented in another meeting of the so-called Ramstein Group, on January 20, at the American military base of the same name in Rhineland-Palatinate.
The British Ministry of Defense did not initially comment on the reports. So far, the UK has delivered more than 200 armored vehicles to Ukraine, including Stormer anti-aircraft systems, sources say.
Warsaw is encouraging other countries to form a broad coalition to deliver more modern tanks such as the Leopard tank, Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski told Polish public radio. Poland could be part of that coalition, Jakub Kumoch, security adviser to President Andrzej Duda, told Radio Zet. “Things are flowing. First we have to find out what our allies in western countries are going to do.” However, the NATO country will not do anything in this direction alone because it is not in a position to do so.
German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said he was not aware of any requests from NATO partners to deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The German government does not want to make this available to Ukraine at the moment. The government spokesman once again ruled out doing it alone and referred to agreements with partners such as the US and France.
Russia has condemned Western arms sales to Ukraine. This “would deepen the suffering of the Ukrainian people” and would not change the course of the conflict, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “In principle, these deliveries cannot and will not change anything in Ukraine,” Peskov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. It’s not just the French AMX-10RC light tanks, which he was asked about, but all Western weapons supplies, Peskow said.
Ukraine has welcomed earlier and announced deliveries of Western weapons – but from the point of view of the country attacked by Russia, they are still not enough. “No one has done enough while Russian boots are on Ukrainian soil,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter. Arming the Ukrainian army is the shortest way to restore peace and security in Europe.
The US government believes that financial support for Ukraine is secure, despite a change in the majority in Congress. With the new budget, financial aid to Kyiv is “solid” for most of 2023, US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday on the sidelines of US President Joe Biden’s visit. Biden to Mexico. The new budget earmarks US$45 billion (€42 billion) for aid to Ukraine, although the government has only asked for US$37 billion. “It is money that has already been approved,” he said. “I don’t see that money being taken away from us.”
Ukraine, meanwhile, reported heavy attacks sustained by Russian forces on the eastern town of Soledar. “After an unsuccessful attempt to capture Soledar in the Donetsk region, the enemy regrouped, changed tactics and launched a new and fierce attack,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar wrote on Telegram on Monday. From the Russian side, it is mainly the members of the notorious Wagner mercenary group that are highlighted.