Lithuania sees tank deliveries to Ukraine, seeks more subsidies
Written by John Irish
Lithuania’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that he is confident that he can deliver main tanks to Ukraine, but the West still needs to do more for Kyiv to win the war against Russia.
“I am convinced because I hear it here when I talk to other leaders. There is momentum,” Gabrielius Landsbergis said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
He said that after Great Britain announced that it was sending Challenger tanks to Ukraine, there were fewer arguments for others not to do so.
On Friday, Western allies will meet at the US airbase in Ramstein, Germany, to pledge more weapons to Ukraine.
A special focus on Germany, which has veto power over any decision to launch its Leopard tanks, which its armies deploy across Europe and are widely considered the best for Ukraine.
Berlin says a decision on the tanks will be the first item on the agenda of new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
Landsberg, whose country is one of Kiev’s staunchest allies, said the meeting in Estonia ahead of Rammstein’s was aimed at coordinating support efforts, but he said the West could not rest on its laurels.
“I think that if we are serious about Ukraine winning, we will take back more types of weapons than we are sending now,” he said. “We can do it now, but we’ll wait until we cross the next imaginary red line because that’s the way we operate.”
Britain, which broke a Western taboo over sending main battle tanks at the weekend by pledging a rival squadron, has urged Germany to accept the Panthers. Poland and Finland have already said they are ready for the Panthers if Berlin allows it. (This story has been reprinted to include the main headline in the text)
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Angus McSwan)