Zelensky criticizes Germany’s reluctance to deliver tanks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized today Germany’s reluctance to approve deliveries of heavy tanks, saying it is not the “right strategy”. “There are times when we shouldn’t hesitate or make comparisons. When someone says ‘I’ll give up tanks if someone else does,'” he noted, speaking via video conference at a breakfast on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Zelensky was referring to press reports that Berlin would only deliver heavy tanks if the US delivered Abrams tanks.

Washington is not ready to supply Ukraine with Abrams, a senior Pentagon official said yesterday, Wednesday, citing maintenance and training issues as the reason for the refusal. However, he did not rule out a change in the US position in the future.

“I don’t think it’s the right strategy to adopt,” the Ukrainian president noted, addressing Berlin, which is under increasing pressure from its European neighbors to approve deliveries of highly powerful Leopard tanks.

“Crimea is our land, our territory, our sea and our mountains. Give us your weapons and we will take our lands back,” he noted.

This online speech of his Zelenskyhis second in Davos, took place the day after a helicopter crash near Kyiv that killed 14 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister.

When asked about the case of an accident, Zelensky replied that “many theories are being considered and I am not allowed to talk about the various cases until the end of the investigations.”