French President Emmanuel Macron has agreed to send “wheeled tanks” to Ukraine, a milestone arms transfer that could set a precedent for other Western states.
“We will receive more armored vehicles, in particular wheeled tanks of French production,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday. “This is what sends a clear signal to all our other partners: there is no rational reason why Ukraine has not yet been supplied with Western-type tanks.”Zelensky has campaigned for heavy Western weaponry since the beginning of the war in the face of U.S.
Macron has drawn criticism throughout the war for providing a relatively small amount of weaponry to Ukraine, while also echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call for security “guarantees to Russia.” Yet Zelensky hailed his latest decision as a breakthrough that could prompt other Western nations to follow suit.
Western aid to Ukraine has been characterized by a protracted debate about providing Kyiv with heavy weaponry. Shoulder-mounted anti-tank and anti-air missiles proved effective in the initial battle for the capital, but the battles raging in Eastern Ukraine have called for heavier armor and artillery.
That statement was delivered as a rebuff to a journalist who suggested the West should “give Ukraine all capabilities it needs and liberate all territories sooner rather than later.” German officials, meanwhile, have justified their refusal to send tanks directly to Ukraine by invoking a consensus of other NATO allies.
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