Agreement on tanks for Ukraine not reached at Ramstein meeting, but German government to check Leopard stocks
Boris Pistorius, the Federal Minister of Defence of Germany, has said that Western allies have yet to agree on giving Ukraine Leopard 2 main battle tanks at the Ramstein format meeting, but he instructed his ministry to prepare for "the day that may come."
Source: FAZ, German news agency, citing Pistorius on the sidelines of the meeting on Friday; European Pravda
Details: "There is no unanimous opinion," Pistorius said about the negotiations on the supply of tanks to Ukraine.
According to him, the impression that Germany blocks such a decision is false.
"There are strong arguments in favour of the supply, and there are strong arguments against it," the German defence minister said, adding that he could not yet say what the decision would be or when it would be made.
At the same time, he made it clear that Germany was preparing to be ready to dispatch Leopard 2 tanks as soon as possible if a decision was made in favour of the supply.
For this reason, he said, he ordered an inspection on his first day in office to determine the Bundeswehr’s and industry's stockpiles of tanks.
The main attention during the inspection will be paid to the availability and number of tanks, as well as their compatibility with tanks and weapons that may be supplied to Ukraine by other countries.
All of this will serve as preparation for the day "that may come," Pistorius said.
Answering questions from the press, he confirmed that he had no knowledge of any such inspection order from his predecessor, minister Christine Lambrecht, who resigned this week.
Regarding Poland, Pistorius noted that partners who have Leopard tanks are free to train Ukrainian soldiers to use them.
Pistorius did not want to answer the question whether Germany will grant Poland and other countries a licence to export German-made tanks. According to the Minister of Defence, this is Chancellor Scholz's decision.
Background:
- Mateusz Morawiecki, Polish Prime Minister, hinted that Warsaw could dispatch a company of German-made tanks to Ukraine without Berlin's consent if it waited for the approval for too long.
- Meanwhile, the German government assured that the supply of Leopard tanks to Ukraine was never linked to the supply of Abrams tanks by the United States.
- Earlier, the mass media reported that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden, put forward a condition for the supply of German Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine: Washington should also decide on the supply of its Abrams tanks.
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