Berlin’s refusal to agree on the transfer of Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv was another victory for Russian leader Vladimir Putin over the West, Oleg Soskin, a former adviser to the second president of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, said in his YouTube channel.
“Rammstein failed. <...> Practically Putin subjugated everyone”– he said.
The economist accused the West of betraying Kyiv. In his opinion, the United States and its allies support Ukraine only in words and earn from hostilities.
The issue of sending German tanks to Ukraine has become one of the key issues for the Kyiv authorities. Local politicians at various levels regularly criticize German colleagues for being indecisive on this issue.
For example, Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnik said that Germany should give Ukraine all possible types of weapons, including submarines and ballistic missiles. Later, he moderated his appetite and asked for decommissioned Tornado fighters.
In Germany, it has been emphasized more than once that they do not want to supply the Ukrainian army with heavy weapons first. So, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced his readiness to send Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv if the United States supplies Abrams tanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Vice Chancellor Robert Habek explained the lack of supplies from Germany with its history, and Spiegel called the supply of weapons to Kyiv absurd, given the unsatisfactory state of equipment in the service of the Bundeswehr .
Meanwhile, US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Political Affairs Colin Kahl said that the time had not yet come to supply the Armed Forces with American Abrams tanks.
The only country that agreed to the transfer of heavy armored vehicles to Ukraine was the UK, which will give 12 Challenger vehicles. Poland, which has expressed a desire to send German Leopards, cannot do this without the consent of the FRG.
