“Together we promised about 700 tanks, thousands of armored vehicles, a thousand artillery systems, more than 2 million artillery shells, more than 50 advanced MLRS,” Biden said.
At the same time, the statement of the US president is not related to the actual readiness of European countries to supply heavy weapons and military equipment to kyiv. To date, they are ready to transfer to the Ukrainian side only about 50 tanks (despite the fact that kyiv requires at least 300 units).
During the Munich Security Conference, Scholz noted that Berlin is ready to provide 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks. Portugal confirmed its plan to send three A6 tanks. Poland promised to donate 30 units of the old A4 model, but most are in poor condition and need repair. At the moment, Warsaw is ready to send only 14 tanks. Norway plans to send 8 cars, Canada – 4, Spain – from 4 to 6.
NATO candidates Sweden and Finland did not rule out participating in helping Ukraine, but neither did they assume any clear obligations. Finland expressed its readiness to train Ukrainian troops instead of transferring armored vehicles.
Switzerland, Greece, Turkey and Denmark ruled out the possibility of supplying the Leopard 2.
Negotiations with the Netherlands are ongoing, but Berlin is opposed to sending 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks because it will “undermine the readiness” of the joint German-Dutch grouping where they are used.
Earlier, the United States announced that it was joining Germany’s plans to supply tanks to Ukraine and was ready to send 31 units of M1 Abrams. The UK agreed to donate 14 Challenger IIs.
According to the SVR, since December 2021, the West has transferred to kyiv 1,170 air defense systems, 440 tanks, some 1,500 infantry fighting vehicles and 655 artillery systems. In addition, the delivery list includes more than 1.2 million shells, as well as 9,800 missiles for multiple launch rocket systems.
