Germany will likely finalize their decision on supplying Ukraine with Leopard main battle tanks in the next week, Bloomberg reported on Jan. 13, citing two unnamed officials familiar with the matter.
According to the officials, Berlin will decide ahead of the Ramstein defense summit on Jan. 20. The day before the gathering, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht will meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Lambrecht will send “a clear message” at the Rammstein meeting regarding the Leopards, the report reads.
Recently, Ukraine and some Western countries have increased pressure on Germany to send heavy tanks to Kyiv.
On Jan. 10, Politico reported that France was putting increasing pressure on Berlin ahead of a Franco-German summit on Jan. 22, while Poland also exerted pressure on Germany by publicly calling for a broad coalition among Western allies to hand over Leopards.
On the same day, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba expressed confidence that Germany will hand over to Ukraine the long-pledged Leopard tanks, following a three-hour meeting with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her unannounced visit to the northeastern city of Kharkiv.
“I think that the German government, somewhere deep down, understands that this decision will be made, and the tanks will be transferred to Ukraine. The only upsetting thing is that this decision has not been made yet, and we are losing precious time and lives because of this,” the foreign minister said.
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