"Tank coalition" grows: Canada also sends several Leopard tanks

In addition to Germany, the USA, Poland and Great Britain, Canada is also announcing tank deliveries for Ukraine.

The news ticker.

• Strack-Zimmermann

  rejects the

  delivery of fighter jets

  : For the FDP politician, this step is a "completely different thing".

• Balance of Power in War:

  Is Ukraine Overrated?

• Editor's note: 

  Read the latest developments from the Ukraine conflict in our new ticker.

  The information on the Ukraine war processed here comes partly from the warring parties in Russia and Ukraine.

  They can therefore not be independently checked in part.

+++ 19:20:

Canada has confirmed the sending of four Leopard tanks to the Ukrainian armed forces.

This is reported by the AFP news agency.

Defense Minister Anita Anand said on Thursday that four Leopard 2 A4 tanks will soon be delivered to Ukraine and Canadian troops will be sent to Europe to help train the Ukrainian military.

+

Leopard-2 battle tanks of the Bundeswehr drive over a training area during a combat demonstration.

(archive photo)

© Philipp Schulze/dpa

Tank deliveries to Ukraine: Warsaw wants to trump Berlin

+++ 6:00 p.m .:

The decision from Berlin to deliver Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine is not slowing down Poland.

The neighboring country wants to continue to put pressure on Germany.

"Poland was, is and will continue to be the engine of support for Ukraine, while Germany is the brake, and maybe that brake was released yesterday," Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told public radio

.

During a visit to the troops, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) announced that the Leopard delivery from Germany would reach Ukraine by “late March, early April”.

Poland said that the Polish delivery would be handed over in just a few weeks.

As a first step, both Germany and Poland want to deliver 14 Leopard-2 main battle tanks.

Tanks, drones, anti-aircraft defenses: weapons for Ukraine

Tanks, drones, anti-aircraft defenses: weapons for Ukraine

Great Britain wants to deliver tanks to Ukraine - training starts on Monday

+++ 5.10 p.m .:

The British government has announced that the Challenger 2 battle tanks will be delivered to Ukraine within the next two months.

"The aim is to do this by the end of March," Defense Secretary Alex Chalk said in the House of Commons in London on Thursday.

Chalk also announced that training of Ukrainian soldiers on the tanks should start on Monday.

Intensive training should take place before delivery, Chalk said.

"Not only for the tank crews who will operate the vehicles, but also for those who will be responsible for maintenance."

Strack-Zimmermann rejects delivery of fighter jets – “completely different thing”

+++ 1:12 p.m

.: “I don’t see that”: For Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the delivery of fighter jets and long-range missiles to Ukraine is “out of the question”.

That's what the FDP defense politician said in the SWR2 "daily talk".

Airplanes are "a completely different thing" than the promised Leopard main battle tanks.

"At the beginning of the war we made it clear that we could not protect a no-fly zone," said Strack-Zimmermann.

"You would then also have to bomb positions on Russian soil so that your own planes are not brought down."

Strack-Zimmermann emphasized that with the delivery of battle tanks, Germany would not become a war party in the Ukraine conflict.

Unlike Putin, Germany is guided by international law.

According to this, the support with armaments in the Russian attack, which violates international law, is permissible.

Arrival of the Leopard tanks: Pistorius dares forecast for Ukraine

Update from Thursday, January 26, 11:56 a.m

.: When will the first German Leopard 2 main battle tanks arrive in Ukraine?

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has promised the country that this will happen by “the end of March” if possible.

This should be "in time" in view of the feared Russian spring offensive, said the SPD politician during a visit to the troops in Saxony-Anhalt.

"Direct participation" in the Ukraine war: Putin spokesman shoots at the West

Update from Thursday, January 26, 10:57 a.m

.: The decision by Western countries to deliver heavy battle tanks to Ukraine is seen by the Russian government as “direct participation” in the war.

"In Moscow, we see this as direct involvement in the conflict," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a day after Berlin and Washington announced the tank deliveries.

“The capitals of Europe and Washington are constantly making statements that the supply of various branches of arms, including tanks, in no way implies participation in combat operations.

We see it completely differently,” says Peskow.

Western main battle tanks for Kyiv: Selenskyj thanks Scholz and Biden

First report from Friday, January 26

: Berlin/Kiev – After the decision to supply tanks, Ukraine is pushing for more weapons from the West.

In his daily video speech, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked both Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden, but immediately added that his country now also needs long-range missiles, fighter jets and more artillery.

News about the Ukraine war: Kyiv is demanding more weapons from the West

Former Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk spoke up even before the delivery of 14 Leopard 2 tanks was officially confirmed.

In an interview with the TV channel

, the current Deputy Foreign Minister said that this could only be "the first step" and made a comparison with the Second World War: "At that time the Americans sent over 8000 tanks to the Soviet Union and 14,000 fighter jets so the Entente could win the war against Nazi Germany.”

Ukraine now also needs a reinforcement of its air force, it needs modern fighter jets, Tornados.

"We would need warships to protect the coast.

We would also need submarines.” And all of this has to be done much faster and faster than before.

What happens now?

"Honesty requires saying that German and Ukrainian interests are not always congruent," said defense expert Markus Kaim from the

Science and Politics Foundation .

"It may be in Ukraine's interest to liberate Crimea as well - but maybe not in Germany, because we will still have to live with Russia in the future."

Is Ukraine overrated in the war against Russia?

Military historian Sönke Neitzel believes Ukraine's strength in the war against Russia has been overestimated.

"The idea that Ukraine is now starting a major offensive with 40 or 50 main battle tanks and recapturing all the lost territories is nonsense," he told the

.

"As a result of the Russian mobilization, the balance of power has changed significantly."

In his eyes, the real danger is not the outbreak of the Third World War, but a defeat for Ukraine.

"None of us knows how the war will continue in the next few months, but it's quite possible that we will find out in retrospect: Too little, too late." (

)

List of rubrics: © Philipp Schulze/dpa