At a meeting of Western military officials, twelve nations agreed to ship 100 German-made Leopard II modern battle tanks to Ukrainian defense forces, but still await official approval from the German government to set up the transfer, ABC News reports.
Although the German Foreign Minister stated Sunday that Germany would not block Poland shipping tanks to Ukraine, Berlin has not officially authorized the transfer of the tanks to Kyiv. The Germans are concerned on three fronts: the escalation of arms being shipped to Ukraine; the potential for the tanks and technology to fall into Russian hands; and the imagery of German tanks fighting Russians on Ukrainian soil, again.
Joining Poland and Finland in promising tanks for Kyiv, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark were among the nations saying they would ship some Leopard IIs to Ukraine. As the manufacturer of the tanks and developer of the technology, Germany has to approve the export of the technology by its customers to a third country.