Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an impassioned speech to 50 of the world’s top defense officials on Friday, warning them that they cannot use “words instead of weapons” as they failed to reach a deal on shipping of German-made tanks to Kyiv.
“Terror does not allow discussion,” Zelenskyy said. “Terror, which burns city after city, becomes insolent when it feels that the defenders of liberty are left without arms against it.”
“All of us can use thousands of words in discussions, but I cannot put words in place of the weapons that are needed against Russian artillery,” he added.
LVIV, UKRAINE – JANUARY 11: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi during a post tripartite meeting press conference on January 11, 2023 in Lviv, Ukraine.
(Photo by Stanislav Ivanov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
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Despite Zelenskyy addressing his top partners at the German Ramstein airbase, the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group failed to reach an agreement to send tanks to Kyiv as the battle in eastern Ukraine continues.
The heist is largely due to Berlin’s refusal to ship its Leopard II tanks or to allow any of the 15 partner nations that own the tanks, such as Poland, to ship German-made tanks from their own stocks.
Berlin sparked international outrage this week when it expressed concern that sending tanks to Ukraine would further escalate the war, as Ukraine is not a NATO member nation.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Friday that the 15 nations had met on the sidelines of the event to discuss a deal, describing it as a “good discussion between allies” but noted that discussions are continuing as there is no an agreement was reached.
Poland’s deputy foreign minister also said on Friday that Warsaw may consider sending its Leopard II tanks to Ukraine even without re-export approval from Germany.
DONETSK OBLAST, UKRAINE – JANUARY 18: Ukrainian tankers perform maintenance on their tanks on the Donbass front as military mobility within the Russo-Ukrainian war continues on January 18, 2023.
(Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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“I don’t rule out that we are ready to take that step,” Pawel Jablonski was quoted as saying by Reuters. “Right now we are trying to get Germany to not only agree to these tanks being sent by Poland or other countries, but also to do it themselves.”
The United States has said it will not send its own M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, citing cost, maintenance and training as key factors, pledging instead this month to send more than 100 Bradley fighting vehicles and 90 combat vehicles. Stryker, along with hundreds of other combat-ready vehicles. vehicles
Washington also believes sending Leopard II tanks would be more efficient since more than a dozen European nations have them and training on the tanks would be less intensive.
Germany has suggested that it would not agree to send its tanks until the US does the same, although this line of reasoning has reportedly puzzled some in the Biden administration, as the UK has already committed. to send their Challenger II tanks.
BAKHMUT, UKRAINE – DECEMBER 31: Ukrainian soldiers are seen in a trench on New Year’s Eve in Bakhmut, Ukraine on December 31, 2022.
(Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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“It’s about what kind of world people will live in,” Zelenskyy said. “These are people who believe that evil and hate will always lose.”
“It is in your power to make a Ramstein of tanks. Not to negotiate on different numbers of tanks, but to open a principled supply that stops the Russian evil, ”he added.
