20 January 2023 , 20:02
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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday made a passionate plea to western allies urging them to deliver desperately needed tanks.
Germany is coming under intense diplomatic pressure to allow their tanks to be transferred to the front line in the war against Russia.
But they have said they will only supply tanks if the United States does the same.
Last night no deal had been done to ensure Ukraine got the key Leopard tanks they want to defeat Putin’s Red Army.
The controversial movement of tanks was tied up in diplomatic red tape.
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In an address to defence ministers at the US air base in Ramstein, Germany, Zelensky thanked them for their previous support.
In an address to defence ministers at the US air base in Ramstein, Germany, Zelensky thanked them for their previous support, but urged the conference to become a 'ramstein of tanks' (AFP via Getty Images)But he urged the conference to become a “Ramstein of tanks”.
He said: “I can thank you hundreds of times but hundreds of thank yous are not hundreds of tanks.
“We have to speed up.
“Time must become our weapon, just like air defence and artillery, armoured vehicles and tanks which we are negotiating about with you and which will actually make a victory.
Participants attend the meeting of the 'Ukraine Defense Contact Group' at Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein, Germany (Michael Probst/AP/REX/Shutterstock)“The Kremlin must lose.
“You can start this policy today. It is in your power to make a Ramstein of tanks. Not to bargain about different numbers of tanks but to open the principle (of) supply that will stop Russian evil.
“It is in your power to make victory. Make your decisions hit accurately.”
He added: “It is in your power to guarantee the artillery we need.
Pistorius, Lloyd Austin and Reznikov at Ramstein base (DeFodi Images via Getty Images)“Hatred will always lose.”
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US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin said they were determined to find a diplomatic way to get more tanks to Ukraine.
He said the West “will not slow down” at this “decisive moment for Ukraine’s struggle to defend itself”.
He said: “We’re going to continue to dig deep and based upon the progress that we’ve made today, I’m confident that Ukraine’s partners around the globe are determined to meet this moment.”
A Leopard 2 A7 main battle tank of the German armed forces (AFP via Getty Images)German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country was: “Strategically interlocked together with our friends and partners and that we are never doing something just by ourselves but together with others, especially the United States.”
But one official explained that for Germany the tanks question was a deeply emotional and controversial one because of World War Two.
He said it “is a red, red, red line. German tanks fighting Russia again.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is under pressure (AFP via Getty Images)Moral issue. “Understandable, from the historical viewpoint. Still, speaking of moral burden, I wish Germans were nowadays more sympathetic with Poland. Let alone with Ukraine. “Didn’t German tanks kill Ukrainians 80 years ago as well? Now they can defend them from Russian barbaric aggression.”
Britain has already agreed to supply Ukraine with tanks.