Ukraine eyes fighter jets after tanks, Russia scorns Germany for sending Leopards

 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has agreed to send its Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, and reports suggest Washington is also poised to send dozens of M1 Abrams tanks. Both armoured vehicles are more powerful than scores of Soviet-era battle tanks fielded by both Russian as well as Ukrainian forces.

Kyiv has long called on Western allies to send tanks, arguing they could help turn the tide against Russian forces. But the two countries had been hesitant. While Washington indicated logistical and maintenance challenges Ukrainians could come across if they were to receive the Abrams, Berlin expressed concern over escalating the deadly war.

"The next big hurdle will now be the fighter jets," said Yuriy Sak, who advises Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov. The war-torn nation says it will now push for Western fourth-generation aircraft such as the American F-16, as its air force has a fleet of ageing Soviet-era fighter jets that are decades old.

Before the invasion, even the idea of sending lethal aid to Ukraine was tremendously controversial, but Western supplies have since broken taboo after taboo.

"They didn't want to give us heavy artillery, then they did ... They didn't want to give us tanks, now they are giving us tanks. Apart from nuclear weapons, there is nothing left that we will not get," Sak said.

However, German Chancellor Scholz, despite renewed calls for high-end aircraft, has said there is no chance of fighter jets being sent to Ukraine.

Moscow expressed fury Wednesday after Germany approved the delivery of Leopard 2s to Ukraine and even allowed allies to re-export the same models. It has accused Germany of abandoning its "historical responsibility to Russia" arising from Nazi crimes in World War II.