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Carried out in Ukraine, USA and Germany ready to send tanks

2023-01-25T10:44:57.575Z


Biden-Scholz agreement, "green light for the Leopards and the Abrams". But Moscow warns: "We will destroy the American Abrams and all other NATO equipment". Madrid ready to align with Germany (ANSA)


After weeks of negotiations and controversy comes the turning point on tanks for Ukraine: the United States is ready to send the M1 Abrams, the spearhead of military equipment with stars and stripes - according to CNN 30 tanks a week, but the times of delivery are not clear - and Germany, for its part, to supply the Leopards so far denied.

These are the tanks long invoked by Kiev

to change the fate of a conflict now in its eleventh month and the subject of an unprecedented clash that risked undermining the cohesion of the Alliance.

But in the end Olaf Scholz and Joe Biden would have found an agreement and the chancellor, under pressure for days for refusing to let Germany go on alone, despite the pressure from the Americans, obtains an important diplomatic result.

Moscow's rejoinder comes first with Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov

: The Russian military will destroy US-made M1 Abrams tanks and other NATO military equipment if they are supplied to Ukraine, he promised, according to reports from the Russian Federation. tax

According to Antonov, Washington wants to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia.

And "an analysis of the entire sequence of Washington's actions shows that the Americans are constantly raising the bar of military assistance to their puppet government."

According to the Moscow representative,

"if the decision is made to transfer the M1 Abrams to Kiev,

Then it is the same Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov

, quoted by the Interfax agency, who affirms that

the

American Abrams tanks in Ukraine "will burn in the same way as the others".

"I am convinced that many specialists understand the absurdity" of sending tanks to Ukraine, Peskov said.

"From a technological point of view - added the spokesman - this is a rather unsuccessful plan, and above all a clear overestimation of the potential that will add to the Ukrainian armed forces".

"All of this - Peskov went on to say - will first of all fall on the shoulders of those who pay taxes in Europe, while the Americans, as always, will at least not suffer losses, but most likely will profit from them".

Meanwhile, Spain is preparing its adhesion to the

international plan to send Leopard tanks

to Ukraine: this is reported by El País, according to which Madrid would be ready to align itself with this decision when Germany lifts its reservations in this regard.

Currently, the government is evaluating in detail how to contribute

(some countries should send Leopards directly, others should finance the sending

), adds the Madrid newspaper.

According to Cadena Ser radio, news in this regard could come from a meeting scheduled today between the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, and the heads of the General Staff.

"We will maintain unity and coordinate with the rest of the allies and, above all, with Europe," Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said yesterday in Parliament. 

The real breakthrough on sending tanks will soon be seen

on the ground,

where the Ukrainians will be able to count on the "strongest weapons" also invoked by the NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, in his first official bilateral meeting with the new German defense minister, Boris Pistorius.

At stake are for now "a substantial number" of American Abrams and 14 Leopard 2A6s from the Bundeswehr.

But Germany, struggling with an inventory, is evaluating the possibilities of the industry, and Rheinmetall has already announced that it can send 139 Leopards.

Abc News then announced that with Berlin's go-ahead, 12 other European countries (leading Poland) would be ready to send at least another 100 German superpanzers (5-600 would be needed by the Kiev army to launch a real counter-offensive and recover the territories lost, according to the estimates of Pietro Batacchi,

Meanwhile,

the Ukrainian army admitted today that Soledar, in Donetsk, had been taken by the Russians

.

This was stated by the Armed Forces spokesman two weeks after the announcement of the conquest by the Russians.

"After months of heavy fighting, the Ukrainian armed forces left the city to 'retreat to prepared positions,' eastern zone military spokesman Sergei Cherevaty told AFP, but refused to say when the retreat took place.

The progressive opening up of Germany after the division recorded in Ramstein - where the US defense secretary Lloyd Austin had to close the summit of the contact group on Ukraine with nothing done on January 20 - was already felt in the words of Pistorius: partners will be able to start

training Ukrainians to use Leopards

, he had said early in the morning in Berlin.

Furthermore, Warsaw has already sent the Federal Republic the request to authorize the sending of the Leopards at its disposal, and the chancellery has leaked the will to give the go ahead as early as tomorrow.

However, it is the agreement with Washington that has accelerated the communication of the Berlin decision.

Scholz had in fact clarified to Joe Biden in recent days by telephone - Bild reported - that Germany on superpanzers would only go forward "together".

The chancellor has made it an unbreakable principle, alongside the condition - also repeated daily - that "NATO does not become a part of the conflict".

After having already granted the Marder armored vehicles to the Ukrainians, in the face of Washington's decision to send light tanks of the Bradley type, the Social Democratic leader refused to go ahead alone on the Leopards, denying that authorization loudly requested (even by his government allies and by the opposition) to the delivery of the German superpanzers.

Kanzler had set a stake: for his yes, Washintgon would have had to guarantee the Abrams, but the Biden administration had rejected the request.

Too expensive, too complicated to use, and too difficult to handle, he argued.

Then the second thought, despite the perplexities of the Pentagon.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Washington's official go-ahead could take place as early as this week, precisely "in the context of the agreement with the Germans".

The

two British volunteers Chris Parry and Andrew Bagshaw, who were reported missing in Ukraine two weeks ago, were killed

while attempting a humanitarian evacuation from Soledar in the east of the country.

Parry's family said in a statement released by the Foreign Office cited by Sky News.

Parry, 28, was last seen leaving Kramatorsk for Soledar with Bagshaw before contact was lost this month.

Now the news of his death has arrived, after the Wagner mercenaries reported on January 11 that they had found the body of one of the two volunteers, wearing both their passports.

Source: ansa

All life articles on 2023-01-25

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