Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania made a joint call to Germany on Saturday to step up its leadership and send its main battle tanks to Ukraine, pressuring Berlin to move faster in helping Kiev in its conflict with Russia.
“We, the Foreign Ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, invite Germany to supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks now,” the Estonian foreign minister said on Twitter.
“This is necessary to stop Russian aggression, help Ukraine and restore peace in Europe quickly. Germany, as the main European power, has a special responsibility in this regard”.
The statement came a day after Germany and Western allies failed to make a decision on whether Berlin would agree to send its tanks into Ukraine or allow other countries to do so.
The invasion of Ukraine in February last year raised concerns in the small Baltic states – all members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that restored their independence after decades of Soviet rule in 1991 – that they, too, could be attacked from Moscow. .
Russia has in recent days stepped up shelling of Ukraine’s eastern regions, outside the main Donbas front line, with Russia’s Defense Ministry saying on Saturday that its offensive in the Zaporizhzhia region has placed its army units in positions more advantageous.
Germany’s new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Saturday he planned to visit Ukraine “quickly”, adding that Berlin was in “close dialogue” on the tank issue with the United States and other international partners.
Source: CNN Brasil
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