Leopards for Ukraine: Who in Europe is for and against?

After weeks of intense stress from Western allies, Germany has lastly given the inexperienced gentle to offer Ukraine with Leopard 2 heavy battle tanks.

The choice welcomed by a number of leaders throughout Europe. Listed here are a number of the preliminary reactions.

Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted that he was “sincerely grateful” for the announcement made on Wednesday by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. 

Ukraine’s defence minister has “extra excellent news to be introduced quickly” following a name along with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin.

Oleksiy Reznikov stated they mentioned “additional strengthening of (Ukraine’s military), together with tank provides and upkeep of the brand new armament”.

Russia

The announcement provoked the anger of Russian authorities.The Russian embassy in Germany launched a press release calling the choice “extraordinarily harmful that takes the battle to a brand new degree of confrontation.”

Russia’s overseas ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated the German determination confirmed what she stated was a “pre-planned conflict” towards Moscow.

Germany

In Germany, the response has been combined. 

The Inexperienced Social gathering in addition to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have voiced their help whereas the far-right AFD have referred to as the choice “harmful” and which “threatens to tug Germany straight into the conflict.”

Poland

Different international locations like Poland – considered one of Ukraine’s most staunch allies – additionally congratulated Germany for the inexperienced gentle.

The Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, called it “an enormous step in direction of stopping Russia.”

Poland was one of many foremost international locations closely pressuring Germany these previous few days to permit Warsaw to ship the German-made Leopard tanks to Kyiv.

Lithuania

The choice was additionally applauded by different EU international locations reminiscent of Lithuania – one of many nations on the forefront of pushing for sanctions towards Russia.

Its minister of International Affairs tweeted an image displaying the Ukrainian flag and a play on phrases, “Tanke Schön”.

UK

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak additionally welcomed the transfer, saying it would “strengthen Ukraine’s defensive fireplace energy” on Twitter.  

“Collectively, we’re accelerating our efforts to make sure Ukraine wins this conflict and secures a long-lasting peace.”

The UK authorities confirmed plans earlier this month to provide Kyiv with 14 British Military Challenger 2 foremost battle tanks.

France

The French presidency welcomed Berlin’s determination to ship tanks to Ukraine and permit different states to do the identical.

“France welcomes the German determination, which extends and amplifies the help we’ve supplied with the supply of the AMX10 RC,” the Elysee stated in a press release, referring to a France-made lighter fight car which Paris can be aiming to ship to Ukraine.

Spain

Spain is open to offering Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, Defence Minister Margarita Robles stated.

Nonetheless the spokesperson for the left-wing Podemos celebration slammed Robles’s assertion tweeting: “We are going to proceed to guess on de-escalating the battle and on peace.” 

The Netherlands

The Netherlands is ready to ship battle tanks to Ukraine if wanted, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte stated.

“If a contribution from the Netherlands helps, we’re ready to take action,” Rutte instructed Dutch media.

Czech Republic

Czech Prime minister Petr Fiala stated Berlin’s determination is “excellent news” for Ukraine, including that he believes “Ukraine will prevail in its simply battle towards the aggressor.

NATO

NATO Secretary Normal Jens Stoltenberg also voiced appreciation for the choice.

“At a vital second in Russia’s conflict, these might help Ukraine to defend itself, win and prevail as an unbiased nation,” he tweeted.

Rigidity and faux information round Leopards

The strain has been rising over the previous few weeks, prompting social media accounts to publish misinformation in regards to the supply of the Leopard 2 tanks.

One current instance is this alleged poster showing within the Stuttgart airport in Germany. It seems to indicate a German flag with textual content urging the nation to not ship the Leopards to Ukraine. 

Euronews reached out to the representatives of the airport that gave us this assertion: “The screens that may be seen within the talked about channels are positioned in our terminal constructing. They solely run business promoting clips or occasional notices to passengers about safety checks or different operationally related adjustments.”

The Stuttgart airpot has confirmed that these posters by no means existed and that the photographs have been doctored.