Monitoring desk
ISLAMABAD/KYIV: The Ukrainian government has taken a step closer to winning approval for advancing German battle tanks to confront invading Russian armed forces. It has secured a pledge for more patriot defence modern missiles as its partners appear ready to rally for the next stage of the war.
Advance German-made tank
According to Reuters, Ukraine relied primarily on Soviet-era T-72 tank variants. German-made Leopard 2 tank, operated by armies in about 20 nations, is regarded as one of the best weapons. The German tank has a 120mm smoothbore gun and can hit targets of the enemy at a distance of up to five kilometers, and the tank weighs more than 60 tons.
The Ukrainian government said the German tanks would give its Ukraine troops the mobile firepower to drive Russian armed forces out in decisive battles. Germany has been the West’s most significant holdout on pledging the tanks, but a cabinet minister said that the issue would be the first to be decided by the new defense minister Boris Pistorius.
He could host Lloyd Austin, U.S. Defense Secretary, on Thursday ahead of a meeting on Friday of dozens of defense ministers at an airbase in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany.
Western countries have supplied weapons to Ukraine since Russia invaded last Feb. 2022 in what it calls a “special army operation” to protect its security because its neighbour grew increasingly close to the West.
Ukraine’s government and its partners accuse Russia of an unprovoked war to grab territory and erase a fellow ex-USSR’s independence.
