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If Germany won’t free the Leopards, Poland to build smaller coalition to send tanks to Ukraine – PM Morawiecki

POland leopards germany
Polish PM Morawiecki. Photo: Wikimedia commons

Poland will build a “smaller coalition” of countries ready to send battle tanks to Ukraine if Germany does not agree to the transfer of Leopard 2 tanks, Prime Minister Morawiecki told the Polish agency PAP.

“We will not passively watch Ukraine bleed to death. Ukraine and Europe will win this war — with or without Germany,” he said, commenting on Germany’s unwillingness to allow the reexport of Leopard battle tanks, which are assessed as being the best tanks to fit Ukraine’s needs to retake land occupied by Russia.

“Germany’s attitude is unacceptable,” he said, commenting on the results of the Ramstein meeting, where German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the issue of authorizing the export of Leopard 2 tanks was discussed, but there is no decision on the matter, and that “all pros and cons should be considered very carefully.”

“It has been almost a year since the war began. Every day innocent people are being killed. Russian bombs are sowing destruction in Ukrainian cities. Civilian facilities are attacked, women and children are murdered. Evidence of the Russian army’s war crimes can be seen on TV and YouTube.What else does Germany need to open its eyes and start acting up to the potential of the German state? Besides, they don’t have to activate 100% of their resources, 30% is enough; even 10%would already be progress. Above all, however, Berlin should not undermine or sabotage the actions of other countries,” Morawiecki told.

Answering the question of why Germany is showing so much resistance on the question of the Leopard tanks, Morawiecki said that it is a victim of its own policy of rapprochement with Russia:

“They hoped to pawn off the Russian bear with generous contracts. That policy bankrupted them, and to this day Germany finds it difficult to admit its mistake. Wandel durch Handel has become synonymous with epochal error.”

To prove that Germany is not unilaterally blocking the delivery of tanks to Ukraine, as German Defense Minister Pistorius claims, Germany should make a clear declaration that Berlin supports sending them and that Germany is considering joining a coalition of countries that will send Leopards to Ukraine.

“The war is being fought here and now. The Ukrainian defenders of Europe need the tanks immediately. Germany wants to keep them in storage until Russia beats Ukraine and knocks on Berlin?”

However, if Germany does not budge, Poland is ready to move without approval.

“We will be building a ‘smaller coalition’ of countries ready to donate some of their modern equipment, modern tanks to the struggling Ukraine. We will not watch passively as Ukraine bleeds. The Ukrainian people are fighting for our freedom. Sending Leopards to Ukraine is a matter of Polish and European raison d’état. We will not allow Russia to capture Kyiv and then set all of Europe on fire. The decision to support the Ukrainian army has both political and moral justification. I hope that Germany will understand this sooner rather than later,” he told.

300 tanks for Ukraine: who could give it the gear to beat Russia

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