German Foreign Minister Annalena Bourbock said on Monday that her government is not discussing the supply of fighter jets to Ukraine.

“We have no dialogue on this issue,” she said in Helsinki after meeting with her Finnish counterpart.

Ms Burbock will be in Stockholm on Tuesday when defense ministers, officers and others meet in Brussels as part of the so-called Ramstein scheme, which involves military support for Ukraine in the war with Russia. The presence of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov is expected.

At these meetings, commitments and announcements about upcoming arms deliveries to Kyiv are usually made.

Currently, Germany is trying to coordinate the supply of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. He will supply the Ukrainian army with 14 such heavy tanks.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said after meeting Ms Bourbock that his government had not yet decided whether to join the venture.

The German Foreign Minister insisted that it was important that the deliveries be carried out jointly, by an alliance of states. “We express our gratitude to other countries that have made this decision,” he added.

Although Ms Burbock said that Berlin is not discussing the supply of fighter jets to Ukraine, as Kiev insists, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he was open to the idea and that the issue could be discussed today.

This meeting will be followed by a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.

Training of Ukrainians in Leopard

After arriving from the fronts of Ukraine, 105 Ukrainian servicemen began intensive training on Leopard tanks in Poland at a specially equipped base provided by Polish, Canadian and Norwegian instructors, organizers and participants of the project said.

Germany and its allies will supply the Ukrainian military with materials to form the first armored battalion with modern German-made heavy tanks by April, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said last week.

“These are very experienced tankers, they came here straight from the front” in Ukraine, where they are fighting the Russian army, said Polish President Andrzej Duda, who visited them on Monday in Svendoszow in southwestern Poland.

“Just look at their faces and you will understand that they have experienced terrible things, but they are determined to defend their country,” Mr. Duda added.

The military is studying the theory, they are still using simulators for practice, but some yesterday watched a demonstration at the local range of the tanks they will receive.

“So far I can say that this is a high-quality tank, very good. And what I like is that our soldiers like it,” Ukrainian Major Vadim Khodak told the press.

According to him, these tanks will provide “great support” to the Ukrainian army. “I hope that when we go to the front lines with this equipment, many lives of our soldiers will be saved and we will be closer to victory,” he said.

Under normal conditions, such training takes at least two months, but for the Ukrainian military, it is much more intensive, it will be compacted. within a month.

Ukrainians train “about 10-12 hours a day, from Monday to Saturday,” Polish instructor Christoph Sieracki told the press.

According to him, 21 crews of four people and technicians, that is, a total of 105 military personnel, are participating in the exercises on tanks that will be delivered from Poland and Canada.

The Ukrainian soldiers were surprised by “the simplicity of the design and the ergonomics of the crew quarters,” Mr. Seratsky said. “And they don’t need someone to motivate them, we probably need to slow them down a bit,” he added.

According to Polish Defense Minister Marius Blaszczak, the main problem is the provision of spare parts for tanks. He will raise this issue today during a meeting with Mr. Pistorius on Tuesday in Brussels.

Source: RES-IPE