The Ramstein “League for Ukraine” meeting, as U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called it, ended without a decision to send tanks to Kiev – with the exception of Britain. Germany withstood pressures and refused to send Leopard 2 tanks, and refused as well to allow third countries do it. This refers to Poland, which has such tanks, but is under a contract that forbids sale or delivery to other countries.
New German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told journalists that “there are good reasons” for not sending tanks, and announced a review of the stock of Leopard 2 tanks at the Bundeswehr. This is seen by everybody as a trick to gain time, as such a review has certainly been made already since the German government announced the “Zeitenwende,” or “epochal tectonic shift,” as he called it, in military affairs.
Austin announced that the Ukraine Defense Contact Group will send more armored and battle vehicles, in addition to Patriot and other air defense systems.
The meeting had started with a video speech from Zelenskyy, who the day before, had arrogantly addressed Germany’s stance on the issue of battle tank deliveries in an interview with ARD first channel German television. “You are grownup people. You’re welcome to talk like this for another six months, but we have people dying—every day.” Then he added, “In plain English, can you deliver Leopards or not? Then hand them over!”
