White House national security spokesman explains Germany’s position on Leard tanks

White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said this in an interview with Voice of America, when commenting on the results of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Ramstein, Germany.

“We know that Germany is working through their own process here with respect to the Leards. The Leards are great tanks, very capable, won't require an exorbitant amount of training for the Ukrainians, if Germany wants to move in that direction. It's Germany's decision to make,” he said.

Kirby also explained that partners are not out there “arm twisting and pushing and cajing”. “We want countries to give what they can, contribute what they can, when and where they can, and on the size and scale and sce that they're comfortable with,” he said.

Kirby added that Germany increased their contributions – they were already, even early on in the war, “one of the world's leading financial contributors to Ukraine, in terms of just financial aid and assistance”, and that's been deeply appreciated by everybody.

“We believe that it's important that every nation that can support Ukraine and their defense needs, and right now, President Zelensky has talked about this, one of the critical needs for the Ukrainian armed forces this winter and probably into the spring is going to be armor, armor capability, because of the kinds of fighting they're doing in the Donbas. That can include tanks, and the Ukrainians do have a real need for additional tanks,” Kirby said.

As Ukrinform reported, defense leaders of more than 50 countries at the eighth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Ramstein failed to approve a decision to supply main battle tanks to Ukraine.

Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that during the meeting, they discussed the possible supply of Leard tanks. He denied that Germany was unilaterally blocking the shipment of Leard tanks to Ukraine, but said the government was ready to move quickly on sending them if there was consensus among allies.