The Polish Prime Minister is pessimistic that Germany will give permission to other countries to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

“I am a pessimist because the Germans protect themselves from this like the devil protects himself from holy water,” Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters, according to Al Jazeera.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on Thursday that the supply of Western-made tanks to Ukraine continues to be “urgent and very sensitive” in his country’s war against Russia, CNN reports.

Zelenskyy told reporters that the impasse with the tanks “depends on many reasons and, unfortunately, does not depend on the will of Ukraine.” “We are all waiting for the approval of the country that owns the rights to this license,” Zelensky explained.

One of the target countries is Germany, which produces the Leopard tank.

Poland, Denmark and others have said they want to send some of their Leopards to Ukraine, but Berlin has been reluctant to approve the supply of German-made tanks to avoid an escalation with Moscow.

“We exert as much political pressure as we can, but the most important thing is that our pressure is based on strong arguments,” Zelenskyy said. “The courage of our soldiers and the motivation of the Ukrainian people are not enough against thousands of tanks of the Russian Federation,” he added.

Zelenskyi also said that Ukraine is looking for other ways, namely its own production, but added that it does not want to give too much to Russia.

“Time and speed are important. Every minute means a human life. The sooner we manage to liberate our territory, the sooner we become stronger, the more lives of our citizens will be saved,” he added, noting that current supplies are not being delivered quickly enough.

A group of 11 NATO member states that took part in a meeting in Estonia on Thursday aimed at increasing military aid to Ukraine agreed to provide it with new weapons and signed a joint statement asking other countries to increase aid to the Ukrainian army. with tanks and other heavy weapons, Reuters reports.

After Britain on Monday confirmed a new package of military aid to Ukraine, including 14 Challenger 2 tanks, howitzers, ammunition, armour, drones, guided and anti-aircraft missiles, Minister Wallace said in Estonia on Thursday that the aid would be supplemented by 600 more Brimstone missiles .

“I can say that we will send another 600 Brimstone missiles to the theater of operations, which will be incredibly important to help Ukraine dominate the battlefield,” said the British defense minister.

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