Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday pressed Western allies to provide Kyiv with heavier weapons to fight Russia on the eve of a meeting of key donors.
A day after a helicopter crash outside Kyiv killed one of its top ministers, Ukraine’s leader criticized Germany for its reluctance to supply modern Leopard tanks – unless the United States also provided them.
“There was a time when we didn’t hesitate or didn’t compare,” Zelensky said at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos via video link.
“When someone says ‘I’ll give you a tank if someone else will also show you a tank’ … I don’t think that’s the right strategy to follow.”
Zelensky’s latest request for weapons came a day before the United States, Kyiv’s main backer, convened a meeting of around 50 countries – including all 30 members of the NATO alliance – at the US-run Ramstein military base in Germany to discuss military aid to Ukraine.
“The main message there (in Ramstein) will be more support and more advanced support, heavier weapons, more modern weapons because this is a fight for our values,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said in Davos on Wednesday .
Many of Ukraine’s allies have announced plans to step up military support for Kyiv this month despite the risk of an attack by Russia, particularly Britain, which at the weekend became the first Western country to pledge heavy tanks.
Chopper crash probe
The United States has promised to send the powerful Bradley armored fighting vehicle, while France has offered the highly mobile AMX-10 RC – an offensive weapon long considered outlawed by skeptical Western nations.
Sweden announced Thursday it will supply modern long-range Archer artillery units.
In Ukraine, air raid sirens rang out Thursday in Kyiv and across the country, a day after a helicopter crash outside the capital killed the interior minister and 13 others near a kindergarten.
Zelensky said the investigation into the crash was ongoing, with several theories being explored.
The crash killed Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, 42, one of Zelensky’s top aides involved in the exchange of prisoners of war, among other duties.
He is the highest-ranking Ukrainian official to be killed since Russia sent troops to Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Tanks
EU chief Charles Michel announced Thursday that he is traveling to Kyiv to express Europe’s support.
“I’m going to Kyiv,” Michel said in a video posted on his Twitter account, adding that he would discuss with Zelensky and his team “concrete steps we can take to be stronger and stronger”.
The Western allies have provided Ukraine with more and more advanced weapons throughout the nearly year-old war, although they often fear antagonizing and taking it to a full-scale war with nuclear-armed Russia.
Germany has been cautious about supplying heavy weapons, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz under pressure from European allies to authorize the export of Leopard tanks ahead of Friday’s meeting.
Senior US congressman Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said German leaders wanted Washington and Berlin to work together.
“The truth is that it has to be the United States and Germany. There is no question about that,” Meeks told AFP, adding that discussions were ongoing.
But in Washington, Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said on Wednesday that the United States is not “yet there” when it comes to supplying advanced Abrams tanks to Ukraine, due to difficulties in maintenance and training.