Ramstein interim results – no Leopard 2 yet
Defense ministers of 50 states allied to Ukraine during the 8th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein did not reach an agreement on the supply of Western main tanks. This was reported by Ukrinform, referring to the words of the German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius.
“Of course, we talked about possible deliveries of Leopard tanks. I must clearly state that there is no unanimous opinion,” said the minister.
He decried as wrong the assumption that “a strong coalition of states has been created, and that Germany stands in their way”. According to the minister, there are arguments “for” the supply and arguments “against” put forward by various parties. However, Pistorius does not rule out that a consensus on Leopard tanks will be reached, but cannot make predictions when it will happen.
“I am absolutely sure that a decision will be made in the near future. But I don’t know what it will be like,” said the politician. “If a decision is made – in a week, in two weeks or in a day – we have to be able to act quickly. We are preparing.”
At the same time, Boris Pistorius assured that “Germany will not stand in the way of partners” who intend to transfer German tanks to Ukraine, although, according to him, the issue of permission from Berlin for such supplies was not discussed at the meeting. He also added that he himself cannot give any permits, because this is the task of the chancellor and other ministries.
At the same time, it became known that Germany, which is part of the top three largest donors of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are preparing another, spring package of military aid to Ukraine worth over 1 billion euros. This package will apply in particular to air defense.
We should remind that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine received from its partners more than 4,000 units of heavy equipment , including approximately 410 Soviet-type tanks. As for Western-style tanks, for now only Great Britain dared to do this.