At a meeting in Estonia on Thursday, January 19, the Ministers of Defense of European countries adopted a joint declaration of new supply of weapons to Ukraine. They gathered at the military base of Tapa on the eve of a large meeting of the Allies in the Ramstein format, which is scheduled for January 20, BBC reports.
Following the meeting, the Minister of Defense of Great Britain Ben Wallace said that the kingdom would put 600 Brimstone missiles to Ukraine, Denmark said that he would transmit 19 Caesar self -propelled artillery installations ordered from France. Estonia will direct the military equipment to Ukraine for 113 million euros, which includes dozens of FH-70 and D-30 howitzers and hundreds of M2 anti-tank grenade launchers with ammunition. Latvia will put dozens of Stinger systems, two M-17 helicopters, dozens of machine guns, drones, and also prepare 2 thousand Ukrainian soldiers.
In addition, outside the framework of this declaration, the German concern Rheinmetall, according to the publication of Handelsblatt, is ready to transfer to Ukraine about a hundred tanks Leopard-1 and Leopard-2 before the end of the year if the German authorities give good.
These statements were heard on the eve of the meeting of the contact group in Ukraine in the Ramstein format, which includes about 50 countries. The meeting is scheduled for January 20, it is expected that the participants will make turning decisions on the supply of Ukraine with military equipment, in particular, the provision of German tanks “Leopard”. Poland and Finland said the readiness to convey these tanks, they were waiting only for Germany’s consent, but Berlin is in no hurry to give permission.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, again warned the West against the provision of weapons, which could strike in Russia. Press Secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov said that this could bring a conflict to a completely new level.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that “now is the turn of the war, and we need to significantly increase assistance to Ukraine. If we want to achieve peace negotiations tomorrow, we must give more weapons today.”