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"They have us on the ropes": why the US and Germany fail to agree to send tanks to Ukraine

2023-01-20T17:07:00.164Z


The US and German governments fail to agree on sending Western tanks to Ukraine. This is the reason.


Ukraine: the passage through the "valley of the shadow of death" 1:58

(CNN) --

US President Joe Biden's government is at an impasse with Germany over sending tanks to Ukraine ahead of a key meeting of Western defense leaders in Berlin on Friday.

In recent days, German officials have indicated that they will not send their Leopard tanks to Ukraine, or allow any other country with German-made tanks in their inventory to do so, unless the US also agrees to send its tanks. M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, something the Pentagon has said for months it has no intention of doing given the logistical costs of maintaining them.

  • Poland announces shipment of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

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"They have put us in a difficult position," a senior Biden administration official told CNN on Thursday, adding that the Germans are demanding tanks for tanks and will not budge when considering any other offer the US has made to incite Berlin to send the Leopards.

The standoff over sending tanks comes amid a much broader debate between the United States and its European allies over whether to send increasingly sophisticated weapons to Ukraine, including longer-range missiles that would allow Ukraine to hit targets at a distance up to 320 kilometers.

Polish servicemen drive a Leopard tank during a live-fire demonstration at the Nowa Deba training ground in September 2022. (Omar Marques/Getty Images)

Britain, Poland, Finland and the Baltics are pushing for NATO members to provide heavier equipment to Kyiv in what they see as a key turning point in the war.

Both Ukraine and Russia appear to be preparing for further offensives, and there are signs that Moscow may be preparing additional troop mobilization.

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Last week, the British added to the pressure on their Western allies by announcing that they would send 14 of their Challenger tanks to Ukraine.

But Germany and the United States as of Wednesday remained opposed to the idea of ​​sending their own tanks.

Berlin then dragged the Biden administration into a deeper confrontation, suggesting that its shipment of tanks was contingent on the United States doing the same.

"If the United States decides to send main battle tanks to Ukraine, it will be easier for Germany," German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck told Bloomberg from Davos on Tuesday.

Asked in Davos on Wednesday about supplying main battle tanks to Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a similar point, stating that Germany was "strategically intertwined together with our friends and partners" and that "we never do anything alone, but along with others, especially the United States."

US M1 Abrams tanks at the end of joint military exercises, at the Nowa Deba training camp, on September 21, 2022.

In what appeared to be a softening of the German position, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who just took office this week, told The New York Times on Thursday night that he "was not aware that there was such a thing." linkage" between the need for the US to send tanks in order for Germany to send them.

But he did not make a firm commitment.

A Western official explained that for Scholz, the tank issue "is a red, red, red line. German tanks (fighting) Russia again. It's a moral issue. Historically understandable. Even so, "Speaking of moral burden, I wish the Germans were more sympathetic to Poland today. Not to mention the Ukraine. Didn't German tanks kill Ukrainians 80 years ago too? Now they can defend them from barbaric Russian aggression."

Pressure mounts in Berlin

Ahead of a meeting Thursday in Berlin between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his German counterpart, a senior US defense official said the US is "very optimistic that we will make progress" on the tank issue.

But not everyone in the US government shares that optimism.

Several senior administration officials have privately expressed frustration with German officials for making what the United States considers a false equivalency between American and German tanks.

Newly appointed German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and US Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III shake hands before a statement at the Defense ministry in Berlin, Germany, on January 19.

"It's nonsense," a senior administration official said of the German request for American tanks alongside the Germans.

"It's like they think they're the same and they're not. They don't seem to understand the difference."

US officials familiar with the situation told CNN on Thursday that the tank issue remains undecided before Friday's meeting, and that it would be surprising if Germany changed its mind, despite Austin's private lobbying campaign.

"I think if there was a concern about being alone in providing this capability, it shouldn't be a concern, but at the end of the day, the German government is going to make a sovereign decision," the undersecretary for defense said Wednesday. for Politics, Colin Kahl.

There is pressure in some quarters for the US to go ahead and send Abrams tanks, simply as a way to get the Germans on board.

"Scholz wants to be in tune with the United States," Rep. Seth Moulton told CNN after discussing the matter with Scholz this week in Davos.

"I think the United States should give up some tanks if that's what Germany needs. That's called leadership."

Russian mercenaries build anti-tank fortification in Ukraine 0:53

On Wednesday, Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki suggested that Warsaw could simply ignore any limits Germany tries to impose on Poland's export of its supply of the German-made tanks.

"Consent is a secondary issue. Either we get that consent or we will do what needs to be done ourselves," Morawiecki said.

"Germany is the least proactive country in the group, to put it mildly. We will continue to put pressure on the chancellor."

new weapon pack

This all comes as the United States on Thursday announced a new $2.5 billion security package for Ukraine, which includes for the first time Stryker fighting vehicles and more Bradley armored fighting vehicles.

But the package does not include M1 Abrams tanks, and the US is unlikely to provide them any time soon because they are difficult and expensive to supply and maintain, US officials said.

"One of the things that Secretary Austin has been very focused on is that we shouldn't provide the Ukrainians with systems that they can't fix, that they can't maintain and that in the long run they can't afford, because it's not useful," Kahl said. this Wednesday.

"And it's not about news in the media or what is symbolically valuable, but about what will really help Ukraine on the battlefield."

A US Bradley Fighting Vehicle patrols the countryside of the Kurdish-majority town of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern province of Hasakeh on April 20.

(Delil souleiman/AFP/Getty Images)

Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh poured more cold water on the German demand on Thursday, telling reporters that providing the Abrams tanks "doesn't make sense."

Singh painted the Leopards as the best option for Ukraine.

"It's a little bit easier to maintain, they can maneuver through large chunks of territory before they need to refuel. The upkeep and high cost of maintaining an Abrams is just... it doesn't make sense to provide [Abrams tanks] to the Ukrainians right now."

Western tanks would represent the most powerful direct offensive weapon provided to Ukraine so far and, if used properly, could allow Ukraine to retake territory from Russian forces that have had time to dig defensive lines.

The United States has begun supplying refurbished Soviet-era T-72 tanks, but modern Western tanks are a generation ahead in their ability to acquire and hit enemy targets.

Ukrainian authorities have claimed that they will need about 300 of these modern tanks to repel the Russians, and the European Council on Foreign Relations estimates that there are about 2,000 Leopard tanks spread across Europe.

Ukrainian soldiers receive bionic arms 0:54

"We welcome the UK's bold and very timely decision to transfer the first Challenger 2 tank squadron to Ukraine," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii said in a joint statement on Thursday. Reznikov.

"However, it is not enough to achieve the operational objectives."

The Ukrainian ministers appealed to countries that have Leopard 2 tanks in their inventory, including Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkey, pledging to "use these weapons responsibly and exclusively to protect the territorial integrity of Ukraine within internationally recognized borders".

long range missiles

The debate among the allies over how far to go in arming Ukraine, especially when it comes to long-range missiles, reflects a broader disagreement over the risks of escalation between NATO and Russia.

To date, the United States has refused to send long-range missiles known as ATACMS to Ukraine out of fear that they could be used to strike targets inside Russia.

But in keeping with London's more extensive attitude towards military support for Ukraine, some British officials have expressed a willingness to supply the long-range systems, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

In this file photo released by the South Korean Ministry of Defense, the U.S. Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) fires a missile into the East Sea during a joint missile drill between South Korea and the United States. in July 2017.

For now, the United States remains opposed to the idea.

"Regarding the ATACMS system, I think we're more or less in the 'agree to disagree' position," Kahl told reporters on Wednesday.

Taking note of the more aggressive public stance by the British, Ukrainian officials have called on the UK to take a more prominent role in Friday's meeting, people familiar with their calls told CNN.

They also want British officials to more aggressively brief Allied foreign and defense ministers on what the Ukrainians believe are the operational realities of the war and what they need to win it.

These discussions are taking place in silence, because the UK has traditionally not wanted to be seen as at odds with its allies.

But there are signs that London is increasingly ready to break publicly with the United States, as has recently been the case with its announcement that it will supply tanks to Ukraine.

Before visiting Washington this week, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also argued in an opinion piece that "now is the time to step up and go further and faster in giving Ukraine the support it needs."

Video shows a shootout between Ukrainian and Russian troops in Soledar 1:20

"This war has been going on for a long time now. And now is the time to bring it to a close," Cleverly added, speaking to CNN at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Wednesday.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also weighed in on Wednesday, calling on the allies to supply "heavier" and more modern weapons.

"The main message [in Ramstein] will be more support and more advanced support, heavier weapons and more modern weapons," Stoltenberg said, referring to the Contact Group meeting of NATO defense leaders at the air base in Ramstein on Friday.

"Because this is a fight for our values, it is a fight for democracy and we just have to show that democracy defeats tyranny and oppression."

With information from Alex Marquardt, Jennifer Hansler and Haley Britzky.

Germany United States news

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2023-01-20

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