European Council President calls for tanks for Ukraine

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said he supports the initiative to provide Ukraine with tanks, including other necessary weapons.

The chief of the European Council said this during his speech in the European Parliament, EP reports.

"For almost a year now, russia has been implementing a strategy of destruction and terror, trying to use bombs to force Ukrainians to submit. We see this approach in Bakhmut, in Soledar, and most recently in Dnipro. But Ukrainians are resisting and will continue the fight.

And we, the European Union, will continue to support them as long as necessary. We will continue military support through the expansion of the European Peacekeeping Fund. Now is the time to act. Ukraine urgently needs more weapons, and personally, I am in favor of providing tanks to Ukraine," said Michel.

We will remind you that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also previously spoke in favor of providing tanks to Ukraine.

"I think that Ukraine should get all the necessary military equipment they need, and they can handle to defend their homeland," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

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Poland expressed readiness to provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks last week, but in a coalition of partners. During his visit to Lviv, the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, said that Kyiv will receive from Warsaw a "company of  Leopard 2 tanks" within the framework of the international coalition.

This week, Britain was the first to announce the transfer of its Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine.

The British government has confirmed the transfer of a squadron of 14 Challenger 2 tanks and about 30 155 mm AS90 self-propelled artillery installations to Ukraine.

Prime Minister of Great Britain Rishi Sunak approved the plan to send 12 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, and the first armored vehicles should be transferred immediately.

Therefore, the British Prime Minister calls on allies to deploy the support planned for 2023 as soon as possible to achieve the maximum effect.

Germany may announce a decision on the supply of Leopard tanks to Ukraine this week. It is inclined to a favorable decision in favor of Ukraine.

With increasing calls for Berlin to provide heavy tanks, Germany will likely decide to give the Leopard tanks, according to two officials familiar with German government thinking.

A decision is expected to be made before a meeting of senior defense officials from the allied countries at the US Ramstein air base on January 20. 

Three more countries, in addition to Poland and Finland, have privately volunteered to transfer Western Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine if the manufacturer country of Germany agrees. Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba stated that Ukraine's goal is to assemble a brigade of Leopard tanks.