US, Germany In Showdown Over Tank Supply To Ukraine

The defence chiefs of the United States and Germany are headed for a showdown over weapons Ukraine says could decide the fate of the war with Russia.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin will be in Germany on Thursday and meet its new defence minister. The meeting has been billed as a chance to provide the arms to shift the war’s momentum in 2023.

Top of the agenda is heavy tanks, which Ukraine says it needs to fend off a new Russian onslaught and launch counter-offensives to recapture its occupied territory.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential administration said on Thursday; “We have no time, the world does not have this time.

“The question of tanks for Ukraine must be closed as soon as possible.

"We are paying for the slowness with the lives of our Ukrainian people. It shouldn’t be like that.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had made a similar plea at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, urging them to supply his country before Russia mounts its next missile and armoured ground attacks.

He said; “The supplies of Western tanks must outpace another invasion of Russian tanks.