As demands for Berlin to approve the shipment of Leopard main battle tanks to Kiev threatened to fracture the German ruling coalition, senior officials said the US should agree to send its Abrams tanks first, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Poland, Finland and Denmark have all volunteered to send some of the Leopards in their possession to the Ukrainian military, but such a move would require Germany’s permission. Berlin has yet to receive any formal requests to that effect, officials told the Journal.
“Senior German officials” told the outlet that Germany would be willing to give approval, but only if the US announced it would send Kiev some of its own Abrams MBTs.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has described Germany as “strategically interlocked” with its friends and partners when it came to decisions on how to support Ukraine. Asked on Wednesday about the Leopard situation, Scholz told the World Economic Forum in Davos that he was concerned about the conflict in Ukraine escalating.
“The Ukrainians can rely on our support in their courageous fight but it is also clear that we want to avoid this becoming a war between Russia and NATO,” he said.