Ukraine is pressuring the West to immediately send heavy tanks

THE Ukraine he hopes to receive as early as possible the heavy ones tanks which were promised to her by Germany and the USAas the speed of their delivery is critical to countering the Russian offensive, according to Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the decision of Westerners and raised the bar even higher in asking them missiles long range and fighter jets.

“The key now is speed and volume” of tank deliveries, he stressed. The delivery of these armored vehicles is “an important milestone for the final victory,” Volodymyr Zeloensky added in his daily address yesterday, Wednesday evening.

“Today the free world is united like never before with a common goal: the liberation of Ukraine,” he insisted.

After weeks of hesitation, the US and Germany announced Wednesday the delivery of heavy tanks to Ukraine, further boosting Western support for Kyiv in anticipation of a possible counter-attack against the Russian invasion.

Washington announced the mission 31 Abrams while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised Leopard 2armored vehicles that Kyiv has long requested to counter the Russian roadster.

“This is not an aggressive threat against Russia,” US President Joe Biden wanted to assure.

Berlin is set to supply Kyiv with 14 Leopard 2 Type 2A6s from its Bundeswehr stockpile and has decided to allow its Western allies, who have these German-made tanks, to do the same.

“We are doing what is necessary and possible to support Ukraine, but at the same time we are preventing an escalation of the war into a war between Russia and NATO,” Scholz emphasized before the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament.

Russian rage

“It’s an extremely dangerous decision that will take the conflict to a new level of confrontation,” reacted Russia’s ambassador to Berlin, Sergei Nechaev.

“This convinces us once again that Germany, like its closest allies, does not want a diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis and that it wants a permanent escalation,” he said.

According to experts, the fear of a military escalation with Moscow played a large role in the hesitation of the Western camp to provide heavy tanks to Kyiv.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius estimates that the first tanks from Germany could be in Ukraine within three months.

Norway also promised Ukraine Leopard 2. According to media reports, the coalition of countries ready to provide such armored vehicles also includes Denmark and the Netherlands, in addition to Poland and Finland. Spain has confirmed it is “willing” to deliver tanks as well.

The Leopards will “enhance the defense capability” of Ukraine, says the UK, which has pledged to deliver 14 Challenger 2 heavy tanks.

For NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, “at a critical moment for the war launched by Russia”, the heavy tanks sent to Kyiv “can help Ukraine to defend, defeat and win it as an independent state ».

Cluster bombs

A European official, who asked not to be named or state his country, also said his government was seeking to send cluster bombs to Ukraine.

Such bombs are banned by a treaty signed in 2008 by most Western countries, but not by Russia, which has been accused of using them in Ukraine.

“The Ukrainians are asking for them. These are legitimate weapons. Collateral damage isn’t that important anymore. They were extremely important in the 1940s and 1950s; today they are rather controlled,” the European official said during a visit to Washington.

“The Russians have used all kinds of weapons that are 100 times worse than cluster bombs,” he argued, assuring that Ukraine “must win the war.” He added that his government has approved the delivery and is seeking the agreement of Germany, which is involved in the production.

The Ukrainian army also admitted yesterday, Wednesday, that it withdrew from Solentar, a town near Bakhmut, two weeks after Moscow announced its occupation.

In addition, Ukraine spoke of a “diplomatic victory” after the historic center of Odessa was yesterday included in the Unesco list of world heritage in danger, due to “threats of destruction” hovering over this area since the beginning of the Russian invasion.

This is a “political” decision that was taken “hastily”, criticized the Russian Foreign Ministry for its part.

Because of the conflict in Ukraine, a decision was also taken not to invite representatives of Russia to the commemorations of the 78th anniversary of the liberation by the Red Army of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, the museum located in the former Nazi camp said.

RES-EMP

Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.