By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Ukraine will have to wait longer for the battle tanks it says it needs from Western allies in order to recapture territory occupied by Russia.
A meeting of U.S. and European defense ministers failed to come to any agreement on the delivery of main battle tanks Friday, Germany's new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters after the meeting at Ramstein Air Base.
The news is a disappointment to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who renewed his call for heavy armor to repel Russian invaders in an address to the World Economic Forum earlier this week. Russian forces have been digging in on the left bank of the Dnipro river since their retreat from the city of Kherson late last year, and military analysts say it will be hard, if not impossible, to dislodge them without effective support from tanks and artillery.
Pistorius, who took up his responsibilities only days ago after the resignation of his predecessor Christine Lambrecht, was under heavy pressure from other European countries to agree to ship the German-made Leopard 2 tanks - used by the Bundeswehr and other European armies - to Ukraine. However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz had insisted earlier this week that he wouldn't agree to that unless the U.S., too, sends some of its main battle tank, the Abrams M1.
U.S. officials have held back from that step, noting that Ukraine's preference is for the Leopard, which uses much less fuel and is consequently easier to incorporate logistically into Ukraine's military. The U.K. last week agreed to dispatch 12 Challenger 2 tanks, while the latest U.S. military aid packages to the country have included Bradley and Stryker armored fighting vehicles.
Pistorius said it was "wrong" to suggest that Germany is standing in the way of an otherwise unanimous coalition ready to send tanks to Kyiv.
"Quite clearly, there is no unanimous opinion," he said. He added that he had instructed his staff to make a thorough inventory of Leopards available in Germany, so as to be able to act immediately "on the day that any decision might possibly come."