German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he ordered an inventory of Leopard 2 tanks amid growing criticism that he had not made a decision to send the combat vehicles to Ukraine, CNN reports.

Pistorius said he had ordered the Ministry of Defense to “conduct an audit of Leopard tanks of various types (…) and we will look, in particular, at the compatibility of the systems with those of our partners, the availability and the number of units.”

“This is not a precedent, it is just a preparation for the day that may come, in which case we will be able to act immediately and provide support in a very short time, this is a decision between the Federal Republic of Germany … and the transatlantic and NATO partners as a whole, that’s how it’s perceived,” he said.

“We are ready; we are preparing,” he insisted.

Speaking to reporters at a meeting of NATO and defense leaders at Germany’s Ramstein air base, Pistorius denied on Friday that Berlin was behind the block on sending tanks.

“There are good reasons for supplies and there are good reasons against them, and given the whole situation of a war that has been going on for almost a year now, you have to weigh the pros and cons very carefully,” he said, without elaborating on the reasons.

At the same time, he notes that Germany will need the consent of its allies to give the green light to the supply of German-made tanks to Ukraine, which will dash Ukraine’s hopes for a quick transfer.

Experts estimate that around 2,000 Leopard tanks are in use in 13 European countries, and they are increasingly seen as essential to Ukraine’s war effort as the conflict approaches its second year.

But Berlin must give these countries permission to export these German-made tanks to Ukraine, and has so far resisted requests to do so.

The foreign ministers of the three Baltic countries asked Berlin to deliver Leopard tanks to Kyiv a day after Germany refused to do so at a meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine, dpa reports.

“We, the foreign ministers of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, ask Germany to immediately supply Ukraine with Leopard tanks. This is necessary to stop Russian aggression, help Ukraine and quickly restore peace in Europe,” Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevičs wrote on Twitter, quoted by AFP and Agepres.

A German government source said Berlin would approve the transfer of Leopard tanks if the United States agreed to send Abrams tanks, which were not included in Thursday’s US announcement of new military aid. Berlin said that these two problems are not related.

• The condition of Germany allowed to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine

The Polish government suggested that Poland could go ahead regardless of whether Germany gave the green light.