The Kremlin vowed on Monday to "burn" the heavy armored vehicles that Westerners, notably London and Warsaw, intend to deliver to Ukraine.
During a telephone interview with his Turkish counterpart, Vladimir Putin denounced the increasing deliveries of Western weapons to Ukraine.
The Russian president thus criticized the “destructive line adopted by the kyiv regime which has bet on the intensification of the fighting, with the support of Western sponsors who are increasing their deliveries of arms and military equipment”, indicated the Kremlin in a statement.
The Turkish President recalled that his country “is ready to facilitate and serve as an intermediary for the establishment of a long-lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine”.
At the request of Kyiv
The deliveries of Western tanks will “prolong the suffering” of the Ukrainians, had estimated the Kremlin, while kyiv says it needs heavy tanks to definitively defeat the Russian army and take back all of the territories that Moscow occupies in the East and the Southern Ukraine.
On Saturday, London announced the delivery to kyiv of Challenger 2 armored vehicles, which will be the first delivery of Western-made heavy tanks to Ukraine.
France had announced the sending of AMX-10 RC tanks, light armored vehicles.
Germany and the United States had gone one better with Marder and Bradley tanks respectively.
NATO has announced the delivery of more heavy weapons "in the near future".
A meeting of Ukraine's Western allies is being held this week at the US base in Ramstein, Germany.
Warsaw puts pressure on Berlin
Poland had previously said it was ready to deliver German-made Leopard tanks to kyiv as part of an international coalition, but needed a formal agreement from Berlin to do so.
“I cannot imagine a situation where such authorization is not given quickly,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters on Monday, before boarding for Berlin, where he is due to meet with politicians. Germans from different political persuasions.
German arms maker Rheinmetall could not supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks until 2024 at the earliest to repair them, if the government in Berlin decides to deliver them to kyiv, said warned the boss of the group in the columns of the Bild.
