NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday expressed confidence that a decision to send battle tanks to Kyiv will be made soon, Reuters and Agerpres reported.
Stoltenberg was speaking in Berlin alongside Germany’s new defense minister, Boris Pistorius, who previously said his government would move quickly to tanks if a consensus was reached.
Pressure has mounted on the government of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries to do the same, while under military procurement rules Germany must allow any re-exports.
But Scholz’s Social Democratic Party is hesitant due to fears that this could provoke a further escalation of the conflict on the part of Moscow.
Poland, which has accused Germany of “delaying” the tanks, said on Tuesday that it had formally asked Berlin for permission to re-export Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
“At this crucial point in the war, we need to provide Ukraine with heavier and more sophisticated (unarmed) systems, and we need to do it faster,” Stoltenberg told reporters.
“That’s why I welcome our discussion today. We discussed the issue of battle tanks. Consultations between the allies will continue, and I am sure that we will soon find a solution,” Stoltenberg added.
For Ukraine, the epic with the Leopard tank continues.
Pistorius said Germany is not standing in the way of other countries training the Ukrainian military to use Leopard tanks while negotiations are ongoing. He added that it is wrong to say that “there is a split or that Germany is isolated.”
According to him, Scholz is trying to reach a consensus on the tank issue, adding that NATO should not become a party to the war in Ukraine.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock hinted at a possible breakthrough on Sunday when she said her government would not stand in Poland’s way if it wanted to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
But on Tuesday, a German foreign ministry official appeared to play down those remarks, saying that Scholz would decide whether to send the tanks, Reuters reported.
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Source: Hot News
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