The transfer of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine remains unresolved. US secretary of defense Lloyd Austin announced this during a briefing after the meeting, which he held together with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley.
Also during the conversation, he referred to the words of German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who justified delaying the issue by saying that it requires the consent of the allies.
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At the same time, Lloyd Austin confirmed that tanks will still be sent to Ukraine, namely the Challenger 2 from Great Britain, which were transferred so that Berlin would not have excuses such as "it will lead to escalation".
During the briefing, there was a certain disappointment regarding the situation with tanks, which American officials tried to overcome with remarks that other armored vehicles, such as IFVs and APCs, as well as artillery, are already arriving in Ukraine in battalion sets. In particular, it is true that the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, the M113 armored personnel carriers and Stryker armored personnel carriers announced by the USA, as well as the CV90 infantry fighting vehicle from Sweden and the Marder from Germany already allow forming units on these vehicles. In particular, for this month alone, the number of Bradleys is exactly enough for a mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
During the briefing, attention was also focused on strengthening Ukraine's air defense, but all these statements were actually made earlier and did not have such an impact. And the question from journalists, which can be considered key, was: "Is Germany doing enough to show leadership in Europe?".
The US defense minister replied after a short pause that they all can do more and listed Germany's contribution to air defense and training of the Ukrainian military. But he concluded that he believes that Berlin will remain a reliable ally in the future.
However, even though the issue regarding Leopard 2 tanks is not resolved, it does not mean that Ukraine should not count on them. In particular, as American officials noted, there is a window of opportunity until spring. This term is obviously connected with the fact that it is from this period, trivially given the patency of the soil, that there will be an opportunity to conduct maneuver defense.
And the Minister of Defense of Poland Mariusz Błaszczak is confident that the decision regarding the tanks will be made eventually. CNN reports, that he showed confidence in a positive solution to this issue, as it was in the case of the Patriot air defense system. He also announced a personal meeting with his German colleague on the topic of Warsaw's readiness to hand over Leopard 2 even without official approval from Berlin.
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