The Western allies failed to agree on the supply of heavy tanks to Ukraine, which could strengthen its armed forces in anticipation of the spring counteroffensive against the Russian military, and the United States asked Kyiv to postpone the start of this operation.

U.S. Army Chief Mark Milley, in his statements following the end of the military aid contributors conference held yesterday Friday at the U.S. military base in Ramstein, Germany, estimated that Ukraine would expel Russian troops from its territory this year.

In the days leading up to the Ramstein conference, discussions were dominated by the question of whether Germany would agree to send Leopard 2s to Ukraine or allow other countries that have these German-made tanks to deliver them to Kyiv.

No final decision was made on the issue yesterday, officials said, although the countries attending the conference have pledged to provide a large amount of other equipment, including air defense systems and other tanks.

“We had a frank conversation about Leopard 2. It will be continued,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said after the conference.

The US, for its part, stands by its decision not to hand over the Abrams tanks to Ukraine, as pointed out by a senior US official in Washington.

In Ramstein, Milley said during a press conference: “From a military standpoint, I still think it will be very difficult for the (Ukrainian) army to push Russian troops out of every inch of Russian-occupied Ukraine this year.”

Cautious Germany

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said at a press conference that Ukraine is well equipped to counterattack even without Leopards.

“Ukraine does not depend on a single platform,” he stressed.

The administration of US President Joe Biden is under pressure from within the US to provide Ukraine with more advanced weapons. “We should not send American troops to Ukraine, but we should give it what we would give our troops if they fought on the battlefield,” said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal.

For his part, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters that countries supporting Ukraine should focus not only on sending new weapons, but also on providing ammunition for old systems and helping to maintain them.

Germany is under intense pressure to allow the deployment of the Leopard 2. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party, the Social Democrats (SPD), has traditionally been very cautious about the country’s military involvement in various conflicts and does not want them to be hasty actions. which can provoke Russia to escalate the war.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he would not say when Berlin would decide on the tanks, but added that his country was ready to act quickly if the Allies reached a consensus.

“All the pros and cons are carefully weighed,” Pistorius said.

Ukrainian President Zelenskiy thanked his allies for their support at the beginning of the conference, but stressed that more and faster needs to be done.

“We must accelerate. Time must become our weapon. The Kremlin must lose,” he stressed, assessing that there is no “alternative” to supplying the country with heavy tanks from the West.

Although these tanks are defensive in nature, they will be used for counterattacks, according to Mark Kanchian, a former Marine Corps officer and now an analyst at the American CSIS Institute.

“I think (the offer of weapons from Western countries) is especially focused on the Ukrainian attack that everyone expects (…) later in the winter,” he said.

It will take a lot of tanks to really make a difference, he said, but a large number of small deliveries of equipment can have a significant impact on the outcome of the conflict.

Added to the multi-billion-dollar US aid to Ukraine is the Ukrainian Forces Training Program, which will train 500 troops every month.

Millie calculated yesterday that the Ukrainian army would need to be well trained in the use of this equipment if its counter-offensive was to be successful.

Source: APE-ME, REUTERS, AFP.