Both the US and Germany plan to send tanks to Ukraine after months of debate, according to media reports.
US President Joe Biden's administration is expected to announce plans to send dozens of M1 Abrams tanks.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also reportedly decided to send at least 14 Leopard 2 tanks.
Ukrainian officials have said the potential shipments could have a significant impact on the battlefield against the Russians.
Both Washington and Berlin have come under internal and external pressure to announce the weapons transfers.
Citing anonymous sources, US media outlets are reporting that an announcement regarding Abrams shipments to Ukraine could come as soon as Wednesday.
One unnamed official told the New York Times that between 30 and 50 tanks could be sent.
The timeline of any potential delivery, however, remains unclear.
According to US media reports, German officials had privately insisted that they would only agree to the transfer of Leopard 2s to Ukraine if the US also sent M1 Abrams. Officials in both countries have denied the transfers were linked.
"If the Germans continue to say we will only send or release Leopards on the conditions that Americans send Abrams, we should send Abrams," Democratic Senator Chris Coons, a Biden ally, told Politico on Tuesday.
Britain has already said it will send Challenger Two tanks to Ukraine.
Poland this week said it wants to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, but they are made in Germany and so Berlin needs to approve their export.
At least 16 European and Nato countries have the Leopard 2 tanks, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Not all will send tanks to Ukraine - but Mr Scholz's apparent decision now means they can, should they wish.
Ukraine is still unlikely to get the 300 modern main battle tanks it says it needs to win the war.
But if half a dozen Western nations each provide 14 tanks, then that would bring the total to nearly a hundred - which could make a difference.
Western tanks - including the UK's Challenger 2, Germany's Leopard 2 and the US-made Abrams - are all seen as superior to their Soviet-era counterparts, like the ubiquitous T-72.
They will provide Ukrainian crews with more protection, speed and accuracy.
But Western modern main battle tanks are not a wonder weapon or game-changer on their own. It's also what's being supplied alongside them.
In recent weeks, there's been a step change in heavy weapons being supplied by the West - including hundreds more armoured vehicles, artillery systems and ammunition.
Combined together, they are the kind of military hardware needed to punch through Russian lines and to retake territory.
If Ukrainian troops can be trained and the weapons delivered in time, they could form key elements of any spring offensive. A missing element for offensive operations is still air power.
Ukraine has been asking for the West to provide modern fighter jets since the war began. So far, none has been delivered.
The news of Mr Scholz's decision was broken by Der Spiegel in Germany, citing government sources, before being seemingly confirmed elsewhere.
There has been no official statement from the German government yet. The chancellor is due to address the German parliament on Wednesday morning.
However, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann of the liberal FDP party, who chairs the defence committee of the German parliament, welcomed the reports.
"The decision was tough, it took far too long, but in the end it was unavoidable," she said, adding that it would come as a relief to "the battered and brave Ukrainian people".
This video can not be played
To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Allied nations had become frustrated at what they perceive as German reluctance to send the armoured vehicles in recent days.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius earlier said that Berlin had given other nations the green light to train Ukrainians to use Leopard 2 tanks, but did not commit to sending their own.
The Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, on Tuesday called on Western countries to give Kyiv hundreds of tanks to form a "crushing fist" against Russia.
"Tanks are one of the components for Ukraine to return to its 1991 borders," he wrote on Telegram after the reports emerged of Germany agreeing to send tanks.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiMGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3dvcmxkLWV1cm9wZS02NDM5MTI3MtIBNGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3dvcmxkLWV1cm9wZS02NDM5MTI3Mi5hbXA?oc=5
2023-01-25 01:20:30Z
1744545030
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar