Blinken commented on the supply of tanks to Ukraine

Washington, January 18 – US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the United States recognizes the sovereign right of each country to decide on the supply of tanks to Ukraine.

Blinken stressed that the decision to provide Kyiv with certain types of weapons is a “sovereign decision” for each country.

At the same time, he noted that in the coming days, a meeting of NATO representatives on assistance to Ukraine will be held in Germany, chaired by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. “I expect there will be more announcements (on military aid supplies) as a result,” Blinken said.

Earlier, Politico wrote that France and Poland are pushing Germany to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine. German Cabinet spokesman Stephen Heppistreit said that the German government does not intend to supply Kyiv with Leopard 2 tanks. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in turn, said that Germany will continue to coordinate its actions with its allies and there will be no hasty decisions.

Russia has previously sent a memorandum to NATO countries over the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has indicated that any shipment containing weapons to Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that NATO countries were “playing with fire” by supplying arms to Ukraine. The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, noted that the injection of weapons into Ukraine from the West does not contribute to the success of the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative impact.