According to Ukraine, global hesitation is killing more Ukrainians. This comes after Germany failed to decide whether to give German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine in order to bolster the country’s military power against Russia, according to Al Jazeera.
“Today’s indecision is killing more of our people,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted on Saturday. “Every day of delay is the death of Ukrainians. Think faster,” he wrote.
Ukraine, according to Al Jazeera, has been asking for German-made Leopard 2 tanks. Several Ukrainian allies have expressed worry, claiming the tanks are critical to Ukraine’s war against Russia.
According to Al Jazeera, the US and its partners have not achieved an agreement on sending German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, as Russia has threatened to intensify the war in Europe.
NATO and defence chiefs from almost 50 nations convened on Friday at the American Ramstein Air Base in Germany, the latest in a series of arms-pledging meetings since Russia invaded Ukraine 11 months ago. During the summit, European leaders pressed Germany to approve the transfer of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine in order to push back Moscow’s soldiers. However, no decision was taken.
According to Al Jazeera, the inability to send the tanks may reflect a widening schism within NATO on the provision of such weapons. Germany’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, disputed that Berlin was unilaterally preventing the sale of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, but said his government was ready to move fast on the subject if allies reached an agreement, according to Al Jazeera.
“There are good reasons for the deliveries and there are good reasons against, and in view of the entire situation of a war that has been ongoing for almost one year, all pros and cons must be weighed very carefully,” Pistorius said.
There is pressure on Berlin to send tanks to Kiev, which Ukraine regards as critical in its struggle against Russia.
Pistorius said that there is a view that Germany is standing in the way. “There are many allies who say we share the view that I have put forward here,” he said.
Pistorius said that while there was no decision yet on whether to send the Leopard tanks, “We will make our decisions as soon as possible,” he said, as quoted by Al Jazeera.
“I am very sure that there will be a decision in the short term but … I don’t know how the decision will look,” he said.
