By Bojan Pancevski and Bertrand Benoit
BERLIN--Germany will send 14 of its modern Leopard 2 A6 main battle tanks to Ukraine as part of a coordinated push with the U.S. and other allies to escalate their support for Kyiv ahead of an expected Russian offensive, the German government said Wednesday.
The announcement follows days of intense diplomacy between Berlin and Washington, which is also expected to announce a donation of up to 50 U.S.-made Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine later on Wednesday.
In addition to pledging German tanks, Berlin said other countries would provide German-made tanks out of their own stocks as part of a broad coalition to boost Kyiv's armed forces. The goal would be to quickly put together two tank battalion's worth of Leopard 2 tanks, the spokesman said.
Berlin's initial delivery will come for the German military's own stocks, the spokesman said, adding that the training of Ukrainian tank crews would begin shortly in Germany. The package will include logistics, munitions and maintenance.
"This decision hews to our known line, which is to support Ukraine to the best of our ability," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a written statement. "We are acting in close international coordination."
The coordinated moves mark a new threshold in the West's assistance to Ukraine. While Kyiv's supporters had long provided the country with Soviet-era weapons in their own stocks, they had so far rejected Kyiv's repeated demands for modern, Western-made main battle tanks, which experts say will be needed for Ukraine to retake territory currently held by Moscow.
Write to Bojan Pancevski at bojan.pancevski@wsj.com and Bertrand Benoit at bertrand.benoit@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
This article was corrected at 1013 GMT because the original misstated the amount of tank battalions aimed for. The goal would be to quickly put together two tank battalions' worth of Leopard 2 tanks, the German government spokesman said.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-25-23 0614ET
