The 8th meeting of the Contact Group on the Defense of Ukraine began at the American Rammstein Air Base in Germany.
Ukrinform writes about this.
"We — 50 states — are determined to support Ukraine as much as necessary. Putin did not count on the determination of Ukraine and ours. This is a decisive moment for Ukraine and the whole world," noted the U.S. Defense Minister Lloyd Austin, presiding over the meeting, opening the meeting.
The heads of defense departments of almost 50 countries, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Army General Mark Milley, and Ukraineʼs Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov are taking part in the meeting.
At the meeting, the participants are expected to hear Germanyʼs response regarding the permission to supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
- On January 11, Polish President Andrzej Duda announced that his country would transfer a company of Leopard tanks to Ukraine as part of an international coalition. According to NATO standards, a tank company is 14 vehicles, although Duda himself did not name the exact number.
- According to Bloomberg and The Guardian, this week Germany will announce a decision to transfer tanks to Ukraine. We are talking about the German Leopard. Prior to that, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed the intention to transfer Challenger 2 tanks and additional artillery systems to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
- On January 18, members of the European Parliament officially called on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to hand over Leopard 2 tanks and air defense systems to Ukraine.