After weeks of mounting strain each at dwelling and overseas, Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed within the German Bundestag on Wednesday that Berlin will present Ukraine with Leopard 2 battle tanks.
He additionally defended his cautious method to the choice, saying it was necessary to barter supply particulars with companions.
The objective is for Germany and its allies to offer Ukraine with 88 of the German-made Leopards, the equal of two battalions.
Scholz additionally reiterated the scope of help Berlin will provide Ukraine.
"We are going to present coaching, logistics, munitions, and upkeep of the methods, and as talked about, allow companion nations to have the ability to ship," he stated.
The announcement was warmly welcomed in Kyiv, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressing his gratitude to Germany.
In a Tweet, he described the choice to provide the tanks, assist, and coaching, and permit companions to provide related weapons as 'an necessary and well timed resolution’.
The Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki additionally thanked Germany in a Tweet saying the choice was an enormous step in the direction of stopping Russia.
Warsaw had been contemplating delivering its German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine with out Germany’s permission.
Russia was fast to react to the information with the presidential spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, describing it as "a profound fallacy" that the Western tanks would have a huge impact on the battle.
"These tanks will burn down," he stated, "identical to all the opposite ones".
Moscow’s ambassador to Germany has accused Berlin of abdicating its historic duty for World Struggle II, including the transfer "shifts the battle to a brand new stage of confrontation".
And Russian President Vladimir Putin has questioned whether or not Germany was nonetheless a sovereign nation.