Russia is accusing the West of escalating the war in Ukraine by providing Kyiv with tanks.
The United States is providing Ukraine with 31 Abrams tanks, officials announced on Wednesday, which comes on the heels of Germany’s decision to give them a company of 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks.
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Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechaev called Berlin’s decision to send tanks to Kyiv “highly dangerous” and said it “takes the conflict to a new level of confrontation.”
“Yet again we find out that Germany, much like its nearest allies, is not interested in a diplomatic resolution of the Ukrainian crisis and is bent on its permanent escalation and the unlimited flooding of the Kyiv regime with more deadly weapons. ‘Red lines’ are a thing of the past,” Nechaev said. “With the permission of the German leadership, battle tanks with German crosses will be dispatched again to the ‘Eastern front,’ which will inevitably lead to the deaths of not only Russian soldiers but also civilians.”
Similarly, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “Unfortunately more weapons from NATO bring more suffering for people in Ukraine. It also brings more attention to the continent, but it cannot prevent Russia from reaching our goals,” while Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov said, “Throughout the Ukrainian crisis, the administration repeatedly used the technique of publishing information in the media on the eve of significant deliveries of weapons and equipment to the Kyiv regime.”
Ukrainian leaders have pleaded for tanks from their Western allies for weeks as they prepare for an expected Russian offensive in the coming months.
The U.S. is giving 31 tanks to Ukraine, which is the equivalent of one of their tank battalions, a senior administration official told reporters. The donation is being made through the Ukraine security assistance initiative, meaning it will be multiple months before they reach the battlefield.
Western allies did not immediately meet this request, and defense officials from roughly 50 countries left a meeting last week in Germany without a solution to the question of whether to send tanks, exposing a possible crack in the otherwise united NATO front.
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Germany had held up those efforts over the last week by declining to provide their Leopard tanks, and it barred other European countries from providing its German-made tanks as well, though it announced its intent to give Ukraine its tanks. German officials reportedly told U.S. lawmakers that he would not send Leopards into the conflict unless President Joe Biden also sent Abrams tanks, and now he’s done just that.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said last week that the moment is “a window of opportunity” between now and “whenever they commence their operation, their counteroffensive” to “pull together the right capabilities” for Ukraine.
