NYT: West rushes to transfer weapons to Ukraine out of fear that it will not repel Russian offensive
Western countries are rushing to give Ukraine the modern weaponry they previously refused to supply because of fears that Kiev has little capacity left to prepare to repel an expected offensive by Russian forces in the spring, the New York Times has reported.
“Western officials increasingly fear that Ukraine has only a narrow window (of opportunity – ed.) to prepare to repel an expected Russian offensive in the spring, they are acting quickly to give Ukrainians the advanced weaponry they previously refused to provide for fear of provoking Moscow,” the paper said.
As the New York Times notes, although Kiev has been asking for advanced tanks since the start of the conflict, efforts by Western countries to meet those requests accelerated this week when the governments of Britain and Poland openly called for a change of position by the Western alliance.
According to the paper, the West had previously resisted handing over some of its most powerful weapons to Ukraine, fearing it would lead to a direct conflict between NATO and Russia, but “seeing little chance of peace talks any time soon and a stalemate on the battlefield, NATO allies are relenting.”
Earlier, the Ukrainian ambassador to London, Vadym Pristayko, said in an interview with the Sky News TV channel that Ukraine needs thousands of tanks from the Western allies, and Kiev would like to receive Challenger, Abrams and Leopard tanks, among others.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Wednesday while in Lviv that his country would hand over a company of Leopard tanks as part of an international coalition that is currently being formed.
Earlier, the Sky News TV channel quoted its sources as saying that Britain was considering supplying British Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine for the first time since the start of the Russian special military operation. Later, the Financial Times quoted a spokesman for the UK prime minister’s office, Rishi Sunak, as saying that the British government had confirmed such plans. At the same time, the former head of the British General Staff, General Richard Dunnat, said that sending less than 50 Challenger tanks to Ukraine by London would not help Kiev to make “real” changes on the battlefield.
Russia earlier sent a note to NATO member states over arms deliveries to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that any cargo containing arms for Ukraine would be a legitimate target for Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that NATO countries were “playing with fire” by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Peskov noted that pumping weapons into Ukraine by the West was not conducive to the success of the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and would have a negative effect.
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