Ukraine-Russia war: Germany agrees to send 2 battalions of Leopard 2 tanks after heavy pressure

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz formally announced Wednesday that after weeks of stalling and frustrating negotiations Berlin has agreed to send two battalions of Leopard 2 A6 tanks to Ukraine.

In a statement the government said it would initially send one company of 14 tanks to Kyiv, though its aim is to send up to 88 tanks from its own stockpiles.

Scholz said, "This decision follows our well-known line of supporting Ukraine to the best of our ability. We are acting in a closely coordinated manner internationally."

Some 15 other EU nations that possess the German-made tanks in their own stocks and had increased the pressure on Berlin in recent weeks to approve re-exports to Ukraine as the war nears the 12-month mark.

"Germany will issue the appropriate transfer permits to partner countries that want to quickly deliver Leopard 2 tanks from their stocks to Ukraine," confirmed the Wednesday statement.

It is unclear when the tanks from Germany or allied nations will be in Ukraine, though the statement said training Ukrainian troops in Germany would begin "quickly."...

Defense officials have said it makes better sense to employ Ukraine with the German-made tanks as there are "thousands" of them throughout Europe and training along with maintenance is far more manageable than on the more advanced Abrams tanks.

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/01/ukraine-sitrep-no-southern-push-yet-kiev-government-trouble-tanks-and-escalation.html#more

But in the east the battle continues and Ukraine keeps losing the war. The Telegram channel Intel Slava Z notes:

Prigozhin on the objectives of the actions of PMC "Wagner" in the Artemovsk region. “The task of taking Bakhmut is to destroy the Ukrainian army in the vicinity of the city and prevent any offensive actions in any direction of the front. All of their combat-ready units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are sent to Bakhmut. And PMC "Wagner" destroys them, opening up operational opportunities in other areas"

This confirms my previous observation:

I count the equivalent of some 27 brigade size formations in that area. The usual size of a brigade is some 3,000 to 4,000 men with hundreds of all kinds of vehicles. If all brigades had their full strength that force would count as 97,500 men. In a recent interview the Ukrainian military commander Zaluzhny said that his army has 200,000 men trained to fight with 500,000 more having other functions or currently being trained. The forces which are currently getting mauled in the Bakhmut area constitute 50% of Ukraine's battle ready forces.

I wish you warmongering Bidenistas would focus your genocidal hatred on China, as opposed to Russia. CHINA is the biggest danger to the world, not Russia.

I mean to say that China is tied with Xiden as the biggest danger to the world.

“CHINA is the biggest danger to the world, not Russia.”

100%, but the weak part of the China-Russia alliance is definitely Russia. Demolishing Russia is the easiest path to weakening them.

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