The time has come for the major Western powers to significantly strengthen their ground forces. Ukrainian against Russian aggression, with chancellor of germany OURLauf Soltz is expected to announce at noon sending Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv, but also to allow the corresponding supply of these German tanks from third countries, while The US is expected to approve the delivery of Abrams tanks also during the day.

Sending a significant number of such tanks to the Ukrainian army is likely to significantly strengthen the armed forces of the defending country in the 11-month war and help the Kyiv ground forces in their quest to return the territories held by the Russian military. separatists in the east and south of Ukraine.

Thus, the weeks-long standoff between NATO member countries over how much Ukraine will gain ground on the battlefield is coming to an end, as German resistance, which led to the delay in sending tanks to Kyiv, is now flexing.

Washington withdraws German reservations

Berlin has long resisted sending the Leopard 2, wanting Washington to take the first step in sending heavy armor. Now the upcoming US announcement has cleared the way for O. Scholz to complete this 180-degree turn and announce the delivery of equipment that could prove decisive on the battlefield.

Thus, the removal of reservations within the United States regarding more active participation in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict effectively removes Berlin’s reservations, Politico notes.

It is expected that the example of Poland, which first requested permission from Berlin for the Leopard mission, is expected to be followed by other European countries such as Spain and Norway, which have already expressed their intention.

Russian reaction

Of course, the movements of the Western alliance do not go unnoticed by Moscow, rightly worried that it has not only lost the initiative on the battlefield, but also risks losing the illegal gains of 2014, i.e. informal control over part of the Donbass and the geostrategically valuable Crimean Peninsula.

Russia is already saying that any deployment of new tanks to the Ukrainian army would be a “blatant provocation” from the West, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this week that the Western alliance was openly involved in the conflict in Ukraine by sending its own weapons.

“These tanks will be burned, like the previous ones,” was the Kremlin’s reaction on Wednesday to the news that came from the West.

However, apart from words, Moscow does not have much room to react, because, despite threats that weapons sent by the West are legitimate targets for missile strikes, the Ukrainian army usually receives all sorts of – already now – military reinforcements from the West, in while Russian fire prefers to hit energy structures or even civilians in urban structures.

Delivery problem

This does not mean that the delivery of these tanks will be an easy process – quite the contrary. As the New York Times notes, fears that Russia will target highways, railroads or material transfer areas as they move to the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine require what officials and experts call secret convoys, usually hidden in the dark. or disguised to avoid Russian attack.

Experts describe the process of transferring massive ammunition and equipment to the conflict zone as a game of cat and mouse, in which Ukraine wins.

“Publicly, no one knows how this happens,” Heinrich Braus, a former Assistant Secretary General of NATO who is now a member of the German Council on Foreign Relations, told The Times. “I’m not even sure if the capitals know the details of what’s going on, but they’re doing it.”

According to Reuters, Politico, The New York Times, Euronews, CNN.