U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price has declined to confirm the possible shipment of Abrams and Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, preferring «not to pre-empt any announcements» before they are made official.
«We’re not going to get ahead of any potential announcements from other allies and other partners, we’re not going to get ahead of anything more than we have to say,» Price said during a press conference on Tuesday, according to CNN.
However, the U.S. diplomacy spokesman did stress that Washington «regularly engages» in talks with its allies on sending military equipment to Ukraine for its army to deal with the Russian offensive.
These statements by Price come after ‘The Wall Street Journal’ had advanced that the Biden Administration was planning to send Abrams model battle tanks to Ukraine, a maneuver that would trigger the supply of Leopard tanks by Germany.
In fact, hours after the news launched by the aforementioned American newspaper, the German news agency DPA has reported that Berlin could give the ‘green light’ not only to third countries sending Leopard to Ukraine, but also to the German supply of this equipment itself.
POLAND SAYS IT HAS NOT RECEIVED OFFICIAL NOTIFICATION Although this possible German decision has already been interpreted as imminent by the opposition and some parliamentarians of the government coalition, the truth is that the German Executive has not yet made any official statement on the matter.
In fact, a Polish official has admitted to CNN that Warsaw has not yet received official notification from Berlin allowing the delivery of Leopard tanks to the Ukrainian Army.
Poland was the first country to report its intentions to supply Leopard to Ukraine. However, Berlin has the right to veto third countries’ redistribution of this German-made military equipment.
Poland together with the Baltic countries have in recent days intensified pressure on Berlin to facilitate the shipment of Leopards, battle tanks that the Ukrainian president himself, Volodimir Zelenski, considers essential for the defense, not only of his country, but of the European continent as a whole.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)