Germany, USA, and Norway will provide Ukraine with tanks
On January 25, president Joe Biden announced that the United States will be sending 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. Just hours earlier, Germany confirmed its decision to further strengthen its military support for Ukraine and sent 14 Leopard-2 main battle tanks.
“This decision follows our well-known line of supporting Ukraine to the best of our ability. We are acting in a way that is closely agreed and coordinated internationally,” stated Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Photo: Patrick Stollarz/AFP/Getty Images
Furthermore, Germany will give its permission to other countries to transfer German-made Leopard-2 tanks to Ukraine. For instance, to Poland: president Andrzej Duda expressed the willingness to provide Ukraine with Leopard during his visit to Lviv on January 11. Several other European countries have also been discussing this possibility prior.
Later on January 25, Defense Minister of Norway Bjorn Arild Gram confirmed the intention to transfer Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine.
The decision on providing Ukraine with tanks was anticipated for months. The topic was actively discussed at the eighth meeting of the Contact Group on the Defense of Ukraine in Rammstein on January 20. The Western allies had not yet agreed then on the delivery of Leopard tanks to Ukraine, reported Boris Pistorius, German Defense Minister, after the meeting.
On the same day, hundreds of people gathered in front of the Bundestag building in Berlin to protest against the German government’s delay in supplying Ukraine with Leopard tanks.
Photo: Alina And
And Ukraine’s official page on Instagram initiated a flesh mob #FreeTheLeapards, inviting people to wear clothes with leopard print to express their support for this decision.
Ukrainians are grateful to all the internation partner for the support. “Today the free world is united as never before for a common goal – liberation of Ukraine. We’re moving forward,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyi wrote on Twitter after the Joe Biden’s announcement.
