US unwilling to supply tanks to Ukraine fearing escalation: FT

• 

European officials believe that the US is hesitant to provide even a minimal force of Abrams tanks to Kiev due to fears about escalation, The Financial Times reported.

The UK, Poland, and Finland will try to persuade Germany to supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks on Friday, but the US is unlikely to agree to deploy Abrams tanks.

German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung reported that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a conversation with US President Joe Biden on Tuesday that his country would equip Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks on the condition that Washington also deliver Abrams tanks.

The Financial Times also highlighted that Germany has so far declined to provide Leopard 2 tanks, fearing that doing so will escalate the Ukrainian crisis and leave Berlin "vulnerable to Moscow's wrath."

At the same time, Washington supports Berlin deploying tanks to Kiev behind the scenes but is not pressing it to do so, according to the report.

One US administration official said as quoted by The Financial Times,  "We are not coaxing or trying to manipulate any nation’s decision about what they want to provide," claiming that the US is "grateful for all of the weapons Germany is willing to provide."

US refusal to send its own main battle tanks making Scholz reluctant

Parties in the Chancellor's coalition, including the Free Democrats and the Green Party, are in favor of sending the tanks to Kiev, while his left-leaning party, the Social Democrats, have been hesitant on the decision, especially since Washington is rejecting to send its Abrams main battle tanks.

In April last year, Scholz suggested that sending any Western tanks to Ukraine would increase the risk of a nuclear war between NATO and Russia.

Read more: MWM: Why won't Germany, US send Leopard 2, Abrams tanks to Ukraine?

However, according to two of his aides, as per the WSJ, his concerns have calmed as a group of global powers, including close allies to Moscow, such as China's President Xi Jinping, have denounced threats of using nuclear arms in Ukraine.

Yet, the German Chancellor remains wary, the news site added.

Scholz responded to a question addressed to him during the World Economic Forum in Davos regarding his reluctance to send Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, stressing that he was worried that the war in Ukraine could become a global conflict.

Read more: Scholz's popularity down 24% in a year: Poll

“The Ukrainians can rely on our support in their courageous fight but it is also clear that we want to avoid this becoming a war between Russia and NATO,” he said.

On Wednesday, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported that there is a possibility that Germany may ship 10-15 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine this year.

This comes after the chief executive of German defense group Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, told Germany's Bild am Sonntag that even though his firm houses 22 Leopard 2 tanks, and 88 Leopard 1 tanks, it would still take about a year to ship them to Ukraine.

The German army has already given up most of its Leopard tanks of older designs and exported them to Turkey, Greece, and Denmark, among other clients. The army still possesses around 300 modern versions, but they have no plans of selling them. The army reportedly refused to provide additional details on the strengths, and equipment of associations, or units.