Could Modern Tanks Soon Flow to Ukraine? While Germany continues to resist pressure from neighboring European states to send tanks to Ukraine, Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has called on the governments of both the United States and Germany to make it official and send M1 Abrams and Leopard 2 tanks.
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Graham made the comments during a press conference with Democratic Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
The press conference was the culmination of a visit to Ukraine, in which the three lawmakers heard about how the Ukrainian military is using U.S. supplies and what is needed to bring the war to an end.
“All three of us, one Republican and two Democrats, share the same goal – for Ukraine to drive the Russians out of Ukraine. To achieve that goal, the Ukrainian military needs tanks,” Graham told journalists.
“I am tired of the sh*t show surrounding who is going to send tanks and when are they going to send them. Putin is trying to rewrite the map of Europe by forms of arms. World order is at stake,” Graham continued.
So far, the United States and Germany have resisted calls to send main battle tanks to Ukraine, despite calls from Kyiv for as many advanced Western tanks as possible. While the United Kingdom has already promised Challenger 2 tanks, and Poland has expressed willingness to send its own German-made Leopard 2 tanks, the U.S. and Germany remain hesitant over the idea.
Germany must also authorize Poland’s request to send the German-made tanks to Ukraine, though as it stands, that may be off the cards.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz already said that he does not want to approve the transfer of any German-made tanks to Ukraine unless the United States agrees to send some of its own, too.
Why Can’t Leaders Agree on Tanks?
An agreement on the matter was widely expected to come during a meeting of Western government officials who met on Friday in Germany.
No such agreement came from the meeting, however, suggesting that the United States may still be wary of escalating the conflict.
When asked whether the United States plans to send tanks, President Joe Biden told a journalist at the end of a White House event last week that he will provide “all the help” Ukraine needs.
“Ukraine is going to get all the help they need,” the president said, refusing to rule out the possibility of sending tanks while avoiding the question at the same time.
It’s unclear why the United States is so hesitant to follow in the footsteps of the United Kingdom.
However, the hesitance could still be put down to the United States’ concerns over escalating the conflict and widening Russia’s scope of aggression.
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Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
