German Decision to Send Tanks to Ukraine Would Be Made With US

(Bloomberg) -- A decision on sending Germany’s Leopard battle tank to Ukraine will be easier if the US sends equivalent vehicles to the war zone too, according to Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck.

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The Green Party politician suggested to Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg Television that he is in favor of authorizing the supply of such equipment, and also some owned by Poland and Finland.

“I argue that we will do that,” he said, speaking in the Swiss resort of Davos, where he is attending the World Economic Forum. “If America will decide that they will bring battle tanks to Ukraine, that will make it easier for Germany. You know our history, and we are little bit more reluctant there for understandable reasons.”

Germany has faced mounting pressure to supply Ukraine with the Leopard after Poland and Finland announced that they wanted to send their own German-made combat vehicles. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s administration was likely to proceed with such a decision, two officials familiar with the government’s thinking said on Friday.

UK Tanks

The UK this week became the first Western country to provide Ukraine with a modern main battle tank with its decision to supply some of its Challenger 2 vehicles along with extra artillery. That followed earlier announcements from the US, France and Germany that they will send infantry fighting vehicles.

Any decision on tanks will be one of the first for the new defense minister, Habeck said. He spoke after news emerged that Scholz plans to appoint Boris Pistorius to that post after Christine Lambrecht stepped down.

“I know Boris Pistorius well, he is a very experienced politician,” said Habeck. “He is the right representative for the German army and he will be a man able to take strong decisions in short time — and this is what is needed.”

Ukraine must get “all the military equipment that is needed to win the war,” he added, with a caveat. “The red line must be always that we are not engaged in a Third World War.”

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