Announcements to deliver Western armored vehicles to Ukraine are perceived as a “political coup” by donor countries, but for Kyiv they are a strategic coup that could be used for a future offensive against Russian troops. The command of the Ukrainian army expressed a minimum requirement of 300 tanks and 700 armored vehicles to launch this counteroffensive.
So far, Ukraine’s allies have refused to provide main battle tanks or light armored vehicles for fear of an escalation with Moscow. But since France’s promise to supply AMX10-RC armored vehicles, the United States and Germany, the United Kingdom, then Poland and Finland have followed suit. Washington announced major new military aid to Ukraine valued at more than $3 billion, including 50 Bradley-type armored infantry and dozens of other armored vehicles. Finally, the United Kingdom now plans to provide Challenger 2 main battle tanks. It would be about ten units.
Leclercs against leopards
After a heated controversy, Berlin ended up announcing 40 “Marder”, light armored personnel carriers that should be delivered in the coming weeks. For the Leopard 2 main battle tanks, Germany hasn’t announced anything yet, but Poland and Finland say they are ready to take some of their stock to supply Kyiv. This decision remains subject to an agreement by Germany, which holds the export license. At the moment, the German chancellor has not yet decided anything.
According to Der Spiegelthis decision should be formalized on January 20 in Ramstein during a meeting of Western defense officials.
This time, Germany could unlock the shipment of Leopard 2. According to politicalParis is studying the possibility of deploying Leclerc tanks in the NATO countries that would send them.
These announcements, while far from Kyiv’s expressed needs, are already drawing the ire of Russia. For the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, “these deliveries cannot and will not change anything” in the military situation and will only “prolong the suffering of the Ukrainian people.”
The thorny issue of ammunition
Indispensable for dealing with Russian forces, Western arms deliveries have already led to an effective counter-offensive that has driven Russian forces out of the Kharkiv region in the northeast and the city of Kherson in the south. Ukraine intends to recover all its territories but fears a new Russian offensive.
The ammunition remains, which continues to be a decisive point and on which it will be difficult to do it faster and faster. The head of European diplomacy, the Spanish Josep Borrell recently admitted that The European Union’s arms stocks are depleted. “I don’t want to be Cassandra announcing bad news, but it is reality,” explained Josep Borrell during a speech before the European Defense Agency (EDA).
In a relationship, Ifri (French Institute for International Relations) believes that if Europe faces a situation that was not foreseen, but that paradoxically should have been. “The loss rates observed on the ground and the high consumption of ammunition have highlighted the insufficiency of the French operational fleets, reduced to the strict minimum after two decades of budgetary shortages,” says the author of the report, Léo Péria-Comb.
Source: BFM TV
