officials are sympathetic to their request. Ukraine currently operates a Soviet-era tank fleet, and U.S. Ukrainian officials believe battle tanks are critical to defending its troops on the battlefield and helping repel the Russians. Officials from the U.S., Russia and Ukraine have referred to the brutal conflict as a “meat grinder,” with streets strewn with corpses of soldiers. Many European allies operate Leopards, and at least two, Poland and Finland, have said publicly that they are willing to provide the tanks to Ukraine, though such transfers would require Germany’s approval.įighting has intensified in recent weeks in the flat, open eastern region of Ukraine, where Russia seeks to capture the entire Donbas region at the expense of steep losses to its own forces. The Pentagon contends that Leopards consume less fuel than Abrams tanks, are easier to maintain, and, perhaps most importantly, are already widely available across Europe. Austin and his team laid out an argument for why the Leopards are considered more suitable for Ukraine, a senior U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Germany’s new defense minister Boris Pistorius. The dispute loomed over a meeting Thursday between U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have been criticized for being slow to provide Ukraine with what it needs to gain an edge in defending their homeland. and allies have repeatedly balked at providing sophisticated weaponry to Ukraine in an effort to avoid a broader conflict with Russia. Since President Vladimir Putin’s order to invade Ukraine last February, the U.S. The debate is the latest flashpoint over the incrementalist approach Western allies have taken when it comes to providing Ukraine with the military support it needs to repel the Russian invasion.
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