France, Germany and the US agree to send armored vehicles to the warzone.
PARIS — Major Western powers have finally decided to send armored vehicles to Ukraine, a move Kyiv’s leadership had long asked for and which it hopes will provide a major boost as it battles Vladimir Putin’s troops.
It started on Wednesday when Emmanuel Macron announced he was sending “light tanks” — AMX-10 RC armored fighting vehicles — to Ukraine. Macron decided to “amplify help” in response to “needs expressed by Ukraine,” the French presidency said.
The French decision was “the first time a Western-designed tank will be delivered to Ukraine. Symbolically, it’s important,” said François Heisbourg, senior adviser for Europe at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
That put pressure on other nations to follow suit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday thanked France for the AMX-10s, and urged other allies to provide tanks and other heavy weapons.
“There is no rational reason why Ukraine has not yet been supplied with Western tanks,” he said.
Hours later, Germany and the U.S. announced their own moves.
Germany will provide its Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicle, it said in a joint statement with the U.S., which will be sending Ukraine the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
None of these are the kind of modern fighting machines that Ukraine really wants, such as France’s state-of-the-art Leclerc, Germany’s Leopard or the U.S. Army’s M1 Abrams — which are more mobile, accurate and have longer range compared with the old Soviet tanks — but the moves signal that tank deliveries are no longer off-limits.
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Ukraine is finally getting some tanks.
While they are not the kind of modern fighting machines it really wants, the moves signal that tank deliveries are no longer off-limits.https://t.co/80PsRhBaiG
— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) January 9, 2023
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