French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reaffirmed their continued “unwavering help” for Ukraine for “so long as it takes” in a joint press convention on Sunday, however each stated that any resolution on supplying heavier arms have to be reached collectively by all “mates” of Kiev.
Macron stated that “nothing is excluded” when requested about the potential for sending Leclerc primary battle tanks to Kiev, and confirmed he had “requested the Protection Ministry to work on it.” Nevertheless, any last resolution must be a “collective” name based mostly on a number of concerns, he famous, in accordance with AFP.
France doesn’t need the transfer to “weaken our personal protection capabilities,” and on the identical time is cautious of “escalating” the battle. One other concern is to offer solely “actual and efficient help” within the type of weaponry that Ukrainian forces can really use on the battlefield with out months or years of coaching.
Scholz dodged an identical query about Leopards, saying vaguely that Germany “will proceed to behave in accordance with the concrete scenario” and in shut coordination with “vital mates and allies.”
“Germany is doing rather a lot, too… We’ve got continuously expanded our deliveries with very efficient weapons which might be already out there right now,” the chancellor stated.
Final week, Politico reported that Paris was contemplating deliveries of Leclerc tanks in an effort to offer a joint framework to beat Germany’s reluctance. Amid experiences that Berlin was unwilling to ship its tanks until the US made an identical transfer, a US lawmaker proposed giving Ukraine a single Abrams tank to depart Berlin with no excuses for additional delays.
Requires Germany to produce Kiev with Leopards grew louder after the UK confirmed earlier this month that it will ship 14 Challenger 2 primary battle tanks to Ukraine. Poland additionally introduced that it will switch an organization of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, however the re-export of those tanks have to be greenlit by Germany. On Sunday, German Overseas Minister Annalena Baerbock hinted that Berlin “wouldn’t stand in the best way” if Poland makes the transfer. Baerbock famous that Warsaw has not but reached out to Berlin on the matter.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated on Friday that the “significance of such provides by way of their capacity to alter one thing” on the battlefield shouldn’t be exaggerated.
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