An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the West’s “indecision” over sending extra weapons to Ukraine was “killing more of our people”.
“Every day of delay is the death of Ukrainians,” Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
His remarks come after Ukraine’s defence minister said he had a “frank discussion” with his German counterpart about German Leopard 2 tanks, which Kyiv is urgently requesting to confront Russian armour.
Germany has insisted that it is not blocking the delivery of German-made Leopard tanks, which other countries want to send.
“We had a frank discussion on Leopards 2. To be continued,” Oleksii Reznikov said after meeting Western allies on Friday.
The meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany brought an agreement to supply more armoured vehicles, air defence systems and ammunition.
On Saturday, an adviser to Mr Reznikov told the BBC that Nato countries committed to helping Ukraine need to be several steps ahead of the enemy.
Yuriy Sak said that the West needed to redefine what it meant to stand with Ukraine – and that it did not simply mean stabilising Ukraine’s front line.
“To be able to defend our land means to be able to de-occupy our land, to liberate our territories and for this we need heavy tanks, for this we need armoured vehicles,” he said.
The Leopard 2 is seen as a potential game-changer for Ukraine, as it is easy to maintain and designed specifically to compete with the Russian T-90 tanks, which are being used in the invasion.
German Defence, Minister Boris Pistorius, said opinions remained divided over supplying Leopards, and he denied that Berlin was blocking such a move.
Under German export laws, other countries who want to supply Leopards – like Poland and Finland – are unable to do so until Berlin gives the all-clear.
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, praised the Nato partners for their military assistance, but said “we will still have to fight for the supply of modern tanks”.
“Every day we make it more obvious that there is no alternative, that a decision about tanks must be made.”
Ukraine’s current tanks are mostly old Soviet models, often outnumbered and outgunned by Russian firepower. -BBC
