Poland and Sweden also joined the growing international coalition in moves that will pile pressure on Germany to follow suit

By Joe Barnes, BRUSSELS CORRESPONDENT, IN STOCKHOLM and Matthew Day 11 January 2023

Britain is planning to provide tanks to Ukraine, Downing Street confirmed for the first time on Wednesday.

A No10 spokesman said Rishi Sunak had instructed Ben Wallace, his Defence Secretary, to “work with partners” to go “further and faster with our support for Ukraine including the provision of tanks”.

The apparent confirmation comes after reports that Britain is considering delivering Kyiv’s armed forces with around 12 Challenger II tanks.

If a deal is done to supply Ukraine with a number of the British Army’s main battle tanks, it would be the first time a Western country has supplied such heavy armour to Kyiv.

Poland and Sweden on Wednesday also joined the growing international coalition poised to send tanks to Ukraine, in moves that will pile pressure on Germany to follow suit.  

Andrzej Duda, Poland’s president, said Warsaw had taken the decision to deliver Leopard II tanks but was still waiting on Berlin to give allies permission to export the German-made hardware.

Pal Jonson, Sweden’s defence minister, told partners there was no need to fear that sending tanks to Kyiv would be seen as an escalatory move by Russia.

The promises will heap pressure on Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, to sign off on export declarations for the Leopard tanks, as well as further ramp up its military support for Ukraine.

Of Britain’s planned contribution, a Downing Street spokesman said: “We are accelerating our support to Ukraine with the kind of next-generation military technology that will help to win this war.

“It is clear that battle tanks could provide a game-changing capability to the Ukrainians.”

Kyiv has spent months calling for donations of heavy armour from its allies to enable its armed forces to quickly take back territory captured by Russian forces.

Officials in Mr Zelensky’s government believe they need at least 300 tanks to create an effective force to launch an imminent counter-offensive.

Western officials agree that Ukraine needs battle tanks and heavy armour in order to reclaim lost lands once the weather improves in the spring, especially in areas where Russia has dug in its troops.

The German-made Leopard II has been prioritised because of the availability of suitable donors, including Poland, and an abundance of spare parts.

But Berlin has resisted signing off on export declarations over fears such a move could trigger Moscow to widen its war to mainland Europe.

“A company of Leopard tanks will be handed over as part of a coalition that is being built,” Mr Duda said on Wednesday on a visit to Lviv.

“As you know, a large number of formal requirements, agreements and so on must be met, but primarily we want this to be an international coalition.”

“The decision has already been made in Poland,” he added.

Dymtro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, believes Germany will eventually drop its opposition and deliver Leopards to Kyiv.

“Even if Germany has certain rational arguments for not doing it, Germany will do it anyway at a later date,” he told the Tagesschau news channel.

“We have already seen this with the self-propelled howitzers, with the Iris-T anti-aircraft system and most recently with the Marder and Patriot systems.”

“First they say no, then they vigorously defend their decision, only to finally say yes,” Mr Kuleba added, hinting at Germany’s hesitant approach to military aid.

Britain’s decision to send Nato-standard battle tanks to Ukraine would break the taboo of avoiding sending offensive weapons to Ukraine.

France, Germany and the United States last week offered to send infantry fighting vehicles, promising Kyiv the German Marder, French AMX-10 and US Bradley in what was considered a significant step in aid delivered by Western governments.

Now France, Poland, Sweden and the UK are urging Germany to allow countries to send their state-of-the-art Leopards.

Mr Jonson, Sweden’s defence minister, signalled on Wednesday he was poised to send Stridsvagn 122 main battle tank to Ukraine to further ramp up pressure on Germany to follow suit.

The thorny issue of delivering tanks to Kyiv is expected to dominate the next meeting of the US-led Ukraine Defence Contact Group at the Ramstein Air Base, Germany, later this month.

Sweden’s defence minister dismissed Berlin’s fears that such a move would be seen as escalatory by Russia’s leadership.

In response to a question from the Telegraph, Mr Jonson said he “has made a point of escalating our support to Ukraine into more transfers, more advanced weapon systems.

“That’s why we made the point of sending air defence systems in November, and we think as Russia has escalated the conflict it is only natural that the West must do more.

“There is no principle of limitations in regards to tanks from our point of view in regards to this [threat of escalation]. I received very substantial advice from the Swedish Armed Forces… we can do more and we will announce more support packages during January.”

Germany, however, showed no signs of bowing to the mounting pressure by agreeing to sign off on the export of Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

“There is no change in the situation now because of the step that the British government has announced,” Mr Scholz’s spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, said on Wednesday.

…………………

Letter to the editor of the Telegraph:

SIR – At last our Government appears to see that the West’s overcautious approach to arming Ukraine has allowed its soldiers only to resist the Russians, rather than push them out.

Unhelpful distinctions have been made between defensive weapons (acceptable) and offensive weapons (not acceptable). Tanks may be regarded as offensive assets but in the context of this war they are needed to repel the Russians from illegally occupied territory. In order to defend, the Ukrainians must be able to deploy offensive capacity.

This war is being fought for our democratic freedoms as well as those of Ukraine: its security is our security. In partnership with Ukraine, our Government and its allies must now develop a clear strategy to achieve agreed objectives, underpinned by unity, decisiveness and determination.

David Platts
Newark, Nottinghamshire