Washington supports transfer of Leopard tanks to Ukraine

The German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported citing its own sources.

According to two sources with access to information on both sides, in October 2022 the US president's national security adviser Jake Sullivan discussed supply of Leopard 2 tanks with German chancellor's foreign policy adviser Jens Pletner.

One of the sources noted that Sullivan said the United States is in favor of supplying such weapons to Ukraine. However, the US president's national security advisor emphasized that this decision should be made by Germany. The second reported that Sullivan signaled to Pletner that "it would be good" if Ukraine received these tanks.

The German government did not deny this information. Speaker, in turn, noted that Chancellor Olaf Scholz's office is constantly in touch with Ukraine's allies, in particular with the United States. At the same time, Germany repeatedly stated that they could not hand over tanks, as none of the partners had done so.

However, experts point out that there are a number of reasons why Ukraine needs Leopard 2 in particular. The main reason is that these tanks are standard in the Polish army. This means that they can be serviced immediately in Poland. With American tanks, this option is currently impossible.

Newspaper adds that Germany could supply Ukraine with 80 units of Leopard 2 in the shortest possible time only from the stocks of manufacturers Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.

• On December 6, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro, called on Germany to demonstrate leadership and finally transfer Leopard 2 tanks, Patriot systems and Marder IFVs to Ukraine.