Tamara Rapajic
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden have made a joint announcement that the US and Germany will send infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine.
Joe Biden and Olaf Scholz are sending infantry vehicles to aid Ukraine in the Russia-Ukraine war. The White House released a statement revealing it will supply Ukraine with ‘Bradley infantry fighting vehicles’. The US and Germany had resisted pressure to supply weaponry to Ukraine until now.
“Moscow has said that US and NATO support for Ukraine would only aggravate the conflict, adding Western tanks will burn”
German Federal Minister of Defence, Boris Pistorius, told Sky News that there was no hesitation about sending the tanks to Ukraine and there had been only negotiations with Germany’s allies. Germany has now also allowed other countries to send their Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. This had previously been restricted under export regulation. The tanks should reach Ukraine by the end of March.
Germany confirms it will not send fighter jets to Ukraine https://t.co/wJKhX2eyWz
— euronews (@euronews) January 30, 2023
Ukrainian officials believe that the heavier weapons will help its forces reclaim territory invaded by Russian troops. Ukraine previously stated that it is in need of 300 new Western tanks to change the course of the war. While they are not receiving this number, the new tanks and heavy weapons will provide them with greater protection, speed and accuracy.
“The Russian embassysaid that the decision to send Leopard 2 tanks will lead to “permanent escalation” of the war”
Germany was previously reluctant to supply Ukraine for fear Russia would interpret the move as escalatory. Doing so would implicate NATO’s involvement in the war. However, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chair of the German parliamentary defence committee, stated that the decision to send tanks was ‘unavoidable‘.
This decision has changed the West’s posture in the war. Until now, the West only supplied enough weaponry for Ukraine to defend itself. However, according to Sean Bell, the joint US-German decision to send these weapons means the West has moved from “defensive support to offensive support”.
Mass anti-war rally in Nuremberg, Germany
Protesters oppose deliveries of Leopard tanks to Ukraine. People came out with banners saying "We are the red line!" pic.twitter.com/AlYttPuyGf
— Dagny Taggart (@DagnyTaggart963) January 31, 2023
Moscow was outraged by the decision to supply Ukraine with the tanks, saying Germany abandoned its “historical responsibility” owed to Russia because of the war crimes committed by Nazi Germany during World War Two.
The Russian embassy in Berlin said that the decision to send Leopard 2 tanks will lead to “permanent escalation” of the war. Moscow has said on numerous occasions that US and NATO support for Ukraine would only aggravate the conflict and prolong suffering, adding Western tanks will burn.
“This extremely dangerous decision takes the conflict to a new level of confrontation and contradicts the statements of German politicians about the unwillingness of the Federal Republic of Germany to be drawn into it,” said Ambassador Sergei Nechayev.
“It destroys the remnants of mutual trust, causes irreparable damage to the already deplorable state of Russian-German relations, and casts doubt on the possibility of their normalisation in the foreseeable future.”
Featured image courtesy of Karollyne Hubert via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
