Germany U-turns over battle tanks, saying it will send Leopard 2s to Ukraine

Ukraine has had to tread a fine line with its international allies over the issue of tanks, aware that its ability to fight Russia largely depends on weaponry from NATO partners. But it is also frustrated at the lengthy time it has often taken allies to approve weaponry provisions for Ukraine.

Kyiv has repeatedly pleaded for tanks from its allies, arguing it needs them to defeat Russia, particularly to combat Moscow’s anticipated spring offensives. Up until now, only the U.K. had heeded Ukraine’s call, agreeing earlier in January to send 14 of its own Challenger 2 tanks.

Ukraine has coveted Leopard 2 tanks, which run on diesel, are relatively easy to maintain and are readily available from Ukraine’s neighbors, such as Poland. Warsaw on Tuesday sent a request to Berlin, asking permission to re-export 14 of its own Leopard tanks to Kyiv.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that allies needed to make a decision on the tanks, especially as the country prepares for a “new wave of Russian aggression” in eastern Ukraine, where fighting is intense.

“There is a lot of talk about tanks. About the modern tanks that we need. And about how this deficit can be filled. A lot of efforts, words, promises,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Tuesday.

“But it is important to see the reality: it is not about five, or ten, or fifteen tanks. The need is greater. We are doing what is necessary every day to fill the deficit … However, discussions must be concluded with decisions. Decisions on real strengthening of our defense,” he said.

There are high hopes that the provision of modern Western battle tanks to Ukraine could shift the war momentum in Kyiv’s favor, as have done other weapons, such as the U.S.-supplied high-mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS).

“The war in Ukraine will prove that tanks still matter — and Leopards will outclass their Russian counterparts,” John T. Watts, a nonresident senior fellow in the Forward Defense practice of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security said in emailed comments Wednesday.

“In reality, there are few systems that can provide the combination of fire, protection, and maneuver that a tank can … The provision of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, if employed competently and effectively — and I am confident that they will be — will demonstrate just how effective, powerful, and critical a capability the modern battle tank still is,” he noted.

“The sophisticated and effective armor design, advanced optics, and cutting-edge crew training that make up the modern Western main battle tank system is a very different beast than the Soviet-era equipment and training being employed by the Russian aggressors.”