Send or not send Ukrainians; this is about German tanks Leopardwho persistently asks for it Kyiv, but there was no answer, as many expected, from yesterday’s fateful meeting of countries supporting Ukraine in Ramstein, Germany. Despite intense pressure from the Americans and other allies, the Germans have not specified whether they will eventually send the coveted tanks to the Ukrainians, or whether they will allow other countries that bought them (12 at EU level) to start deliveries to Ukraine. Kyiv.

Speaking to reporters yesterday afternoon during a break in the meeting, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that “the impression that a united front has been formed that is being blocked by Germany is wrong.” According to a German official, “there are good reasons for sending (tanks) and good reasons against it”, but “none of us today can discount when the decision will be made and what it will be.”

However, Boris Pistorius requested a report from the competent services of his country on the number of Leopards that could be sent from Germany if there was a joint decision of the allies. In other statements, he denied that Berlin made the Leopard mission contingent on the Americans also supplying their own Abrams tanks — something they still haven’t done, citing technical problems.

During yesterday’s meeting of the Contact Group, where 50 countries are represented, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, via videoconference, called for overcoming any reservations and speeding up the delivery of new, more powerful weapons systems to his country’s allies. The pressure exerted on Germany by the Americans and some of their European allies was intense.

New packages of military aid to Kyiv were announced at the Ramstein summit, which was decisive in the subsequent months of the war.

Before the start of the summit discussions, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, accompanied by his Ukrainian counterpart Alexei Reshnikov and US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Miley, said: “Russia is regrouping, mobilizing and rearming. This is not the time to slow down, but to push harder. The Ukrainian people are watching us, the Kremlin is watching us, history will judge us.”

A couple of minutes ago United States and Finland announced new military aid packages Ukraine. The $2.5 billion US package includes 59 Bradley armored fighting vehicles and 90 Stryker armored personnel carriers. Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries are considering unilaterally sending Leopard to Ukraine, even without Berlin’s permission. A group of nine NATO member countries, including the UK and Poland, signed a joint appeal to provide Kyiv with heavy weapons.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the possible deployment of heavy tanks in Ukraine “will not change anything fundamental” in the operational area, it will only “add problems to Ukraine and its people”, implying an escalation of the war by Russia. . “This is a tragic delusion of the Western community, which will have several opportunities to regret it,” he added. At the same time, under the chairmanship of Vladimir Putin, a meeting of the National Security Council was held, at which a broad review of the hostilities took place.

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced yesterday that its forces had captured the village of Klishchevka, about nine kilometers south of the town of Bakhmut, which is a direct target of Russian operations in the east of the Donetsk region. German intelligence BND expressed concern about the heavy losses of Ukrainians in the battle for Bakhmut, according to Der Spiegel magazine. The report notes that at a recent closed-door meeting of a committee of the German parliament, representatives of the BND said that Ukrainian losses were daily in the triple digits and that the possible capture of Bakhmut by the Russians could open the way for their offensive. in other cities.

Mission of William Burns to Kyiv

CIA director William Burns discussed the development and prospects for war in Ukraine with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a secret visit to Kyiv late last week. This was reported yesterday by the Washington Post, citing US officials who wished to remain anonymous.

According to an American newspaper, William Burns conveyed to the Ukrainian leadership Washington’s assessments of Russian plans for the battlefield in the coming months. His visit comes at a critical moment when the Russian military is trying to capture the city of Bakhmut and use it as a springboard to seize other cities in the Donbass in eastern Ukraine, while the Ukrainians are planning a new counter-offensive, this time on the southern front. Zaporozhye province.

The Zelensky administration is concerned that the readiness of the US leadership for new military assistance packages to Ukraine could be affected by the worsening international economy and domestic political problems after the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives.

According to the Washington Post, in a meeting with Zelensky, Burns stressed that battlefield events are now needed, but acknowledged that “at some point, it will become more difficult to keep[American]aid flowing.”
However, Ukrainian government sources told the American newspaper that Zelensky and his colleagues were under the impression that the Biden administration continued to strongly support the $45 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine that Congress passed in December (when both legislatures were still under pressure). control). democratic control). The Ukrainian leadership looked less confident about future bailout packages being discussed.

Russian-speaking, former US ambassador to Russia and experienced State Department official William Burns was already one of the deepest connoisseurs of Russian and Ukrainian reality when Joe Biden appointed him head of the CIA. He recently met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Naryskin, launching one of the few channels of communication between Washington and Moscow that have remained open since the start of the Russian invasion. The Kremlin has left open the possibility of new bilateral contacts at this level.

In Moscow, a spokesman for the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, said yesterday that in the two years of Biden’s rule, US-Russian relations have sunk to historic lows, and assessed that “there is no hope for improvement in the foreseeable future. ”

Negotiations between the United States and Russia to extend the START treaty, which provides for strategic arms control, broke down in November due to tensions caused by the war in Ukraine.

Request for 300 tanks

The Ukrainian request for tanks is based on the conviction of the Kyiv headquarters that armored vehicles can play an important role in reclaiming lost territories from the Russian army.

Heavy tanks Leclerc (France), Leopard 2 (Germany), Challenger 2 (UK) and Abrams M1 (USA) are tracked and weigh between 55 and 65 tons. The heavy gun of these tanks has a caliber of 105 to 125 millimeters, with each tank carrying up to 55 rounds. Advanced optical systems of tanks allow operators to make highly accurate shots. Leclerc, for example, can hit a target at a distance of 4 km while moving. Western tanks, developed at the height of the Cold War, are ideally suited to counter heavy Russian tanks such as the T-72. In the 1990s, during the Gulf War, American Abrams proved effective against Soviet-made Iraqi T-72s that lacked night vision and could not operate at night.

However, heavy tanks cannot be effective without the support of light armor such as the German Marder or the American Bradley. These vehicles weighing from 20 to 35 tons have lighter armor, but greater maneuverability. They are ideal for reconnaissance operations and the detection of enemy ambushes. For example, the French AMX-10 is equipped with a 105-mm cannon and two small-caliber machine guns, which allows it to effectively defend itself against infantry. The Marder and Bradley also serve as armored personnel carriers, as infantry is needed to support the heavy tanks.

However, Ukraine’s request for more than 300 tanks ignores the fundamental rule of armor, which requires that each heavy tank needs a truckload of spare parts and ammunition, as well as a tank of fuel, to stay operational for many hours on the battlefield. .

Increase in defense spending

PARIS. French President Emmanuel Macron announced a significant increase in the French defense budget yesterday from the Mont-de-Marchand military airfield, saying that by 2030 the budget of the armed forces will reach 400 billion euros from 295 billion, which were in the period 2019-2023. The military counterintelligence budget will also receive a significant increase, of the order of 60%, in the period 2024-30.

Funding for the two main counter-intelligence services of the French armed forces will be doubled, the French president said during a ceremony at the military airport. According to defense analysts, the war in Ukraine has shown how unprepared the French armed forces are, especially in the areas of air defense, long-range artillery and cybersecurity. “Our new defense budget reflects the serious risks that Europe and France face today. By correcting many of the shortcomings of our army, we will radically transform it,” said Emmanuel Macron.

“I will ask the National Assembly to approve additional funding of 400 million euros for the period 2024-2030. Only in this way will we be able to modernize our valuable combat tool that serves our freedom, security, prosperity and place in the world,” the President emphasized, addressing the air base staff with wishes for 2023.

Macron’s ambitious plan also aims to boost the French military’s digital capabilities and protect its advanced electronic systems from malware attacks. “New geopolitical challenges await us ahead, requiring original thinking and bold initiatives,” the president stressed.

Macron also indicated that the increased funding would ensure France’s continued defense presence in the Indian and Pacific region to counter new threats, alluding to China and its expansionist policies in the Pacific.