U.S. Germany Try To Cut Deal Over Tanks For Ukraine

The United States and Germany are trying to resolve a dispute that has deterred the West from sending heavy tanks to Ukraine, as Kyiv pleaded for the weapons help it to turn the tide against Russian forces, Max Hunder and Madeline Chambers reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Germany's new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius talked in Berlin just hours after Pistorius took office.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Germany's new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius talked in Berlin just hours after Pistorius took office.

But there was no word on whether they had resolved differences that could see Berlin block Western plans to send Kyiv heavy tanks when dozens of allies gather on Friday at Ramstein, Washington's main European air base.

Ukraine wants Germany’s Leopard 2 tanks but Berlin said the US must also send Abrams tanks to Kyiv aside from Bradleys and Stryker armored fighting vehicles.

Billions of dollars worth of military aid is expected to be pledged at the Ramstein meeting, billed as a chance for the West to give Ukraine what it needs to defeat Russia in 2023.

Countries including Canada, the Netherlands, and Sweden have already announced that armored vehicles and air defenses would be sent to Ukraine. But the big question will be whether the meeting brings heavy tanks, which Kyiv says it needs to fend off Russian assaults and recapture occupied land.

"We have no time, the world does not have this time," Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Thursday.

"The question of tanks for Ukraine must be closed as soon as possible," he said. "We are paying for the slowness with the lives of our Ukrainian people. It shouldn't be like that." There are thousands of Leopard 2 tanks in Europe that could be transported to Ukraine immediately.

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