John Kirby, White House National Security Council Coordinator, reiterated that Germany is one of the main funders of the Ukrainian effort against the Russian invasion, despite hesitation about sending Leopard tanks.
The coordinator of the National Security Council of the White House affirmed, this Saturday, that “it is a decision of Germany” to authorize the sending of tanks to Ukraine.
“We know that Germany is working on its own process regarding Leopards. The Leopards are big tanks, very capable, they won’t require exorbitant training from the Ukrainians if Germany wants to move in that direction. It’s Germany’s decision,” White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said in an interview with Voice of America.
Kirby was commenting on the meeting of several countries in Ramstein, Germany, to decide on future Western support for Ukraine.
“We want countries to give what they can, contribute what they can, when and where they can, and in the size, scale and target with which they feel comfortable”, he reiterated, recalling that Germany is “one of the main financial contributors of the world to Ukraine in terms of help and financial assistance”.
In the same statements, quoted by the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform, Kirby concluded: “One of the critical needs for the Ukrainian armed forces this winter, and probably in the spring, will be armour, armor capability, because of the types of fighting they are doing. do in Donbass. That might include tanks, and the Ukrainians really need additional tanks.”
On Friday, 54 countries gathered at Ramstein air base in Germany for the eighth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. It was not possible, however, to reach a decision on the sending of the German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv, a strong demand from the executive of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Launched on February 24, the Russian military offensive in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 14 million people, according to the latest UN data. The entity also confirmed that at least 7,031 civilians have already died, with 11,327 injured, underlining that these numbers are far below the real ones.