Kyiv (agencies)
9 countries, including Britain, Poland and the Netherlands, pledged yesterday to continue to provide an unprecedented package of support, including tanks, to help Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, while the Kremlin warned that the delivery of Western countries to Ukraine with long-range weapons would take the conflict to a new level. Good for European security.
“We are committed to collectively seeking to provide an unprecedented package of support, including tanks, heavy artillery, air defense systems, ammunition and infantry fighting vehicles,” the nine countries said in a joint statement.
The statement was posted on the British government website and was made by the defense ministers of Britain, Estonia, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania and representatives of Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Slovakia after a meeting in Estonia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Germany’s reluctance to provide Kyiv with heavy tanks of its own making, on the eve of an important meeting to coordinate more assistance to Ukraine. “There are times when we should not hesitate or compare, as if someone says I will give tanks if another party does that,” Zelensky said, pointing to reports that Berlin will not give Ukraine heavy tanks unless the United States sends Abrams tanks. However, Washington is not ready to provide Ukraine with these powerful combat tanks, according to a senior Pentagon official, justifying this refusal with issues related to maintenance and training, without ruling out a change in the US position in this regard in the future.
Yesterday, Sweden and Denmark announced support for Ukraine with a number of advanced weapons that Kyiv had been calling for for several months, while Sweden decided to provide Ukraine with modern Archer guns. For his part, the British Minister of Defense announced that the United Kingdom will send to Ukraine an additional 600 Brimstone missiles. Sweden will also send 50 infantry fighting tanks of the CV-90 model, as well as portable anti-tank missiles, “NLO”, as confirmed by the government. Likewise, the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) announced yesterday that the member states of the alliance will hand over “heavier and newer” weapons to Kyiv. Meanwhile, the Kremlin warned that the delivery of Western countries to Ukraine with long-range weapons capable of targeting the depth of Russian territory will lead to a dangerous escalation in the armed conflict between Moscow and Kiev. “This is a very dangerous matter,” said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “It will mean that the conflict will move to a new level that does not bode well for European security.” In the context, Peskov stressed that Russia does not intend to change its military doctrine and the use of nuclear weapons, according to the Russian agency Interfax. Bloomberg news agency stated that this statement came in the context of Peskov’s comment on a post published by the former president, deputy head of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, on his official channel on “Telegram”, in which he wrote that Russia’s defeat in a conventional war could lead to a nuclear war. Peskov said that providing Ukraine with long-range weapons could lead to an escalation of the conflict.
Medvedev had said that the nuclear powers do not lose major conflicts on which their fate depends.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs issued, in a joint statement, “an appeal to all partner countries that have previously provided military assistance or are studying this possibility, in which we call on them to greatly enhance their contribution.” In the statement, the two ministers mentioned 12 countries, including Turkey and Germany, that own tanks. Leopard.
In addition, the Ukrainian president said, “I do not think that this is the correct strategy to be followed,” referring to Berlin, which is under increasing pressure from a number of European countries to allow the delivery of “Leopard” tanks.
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