However, Pistorius didn’t wholly reject the transfer. “None of us can currently predict when and how a decision will be made,” he continued.

So that the government could “act quickly” if they wanted to send them, the minister said he had asked the German army to look at its stock of Leopard vehicles and figure out how many could be sent.

According to a representative from Eastern Europe, nations will keep trying to convince Germany to permit the shipment.

The official, who asked not to be named so he or she could talk freely, said they needed more tanks. “Yet there is hope.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other senior German officials reportedly stated this week that Berlin wouldn’t take action until the United States consents to send its own M1 Abrams tanks to the front lines.

Austin stated he had nothing to say about sending Abrams and refuted any “linkage” between the two. A Patriot air defense battery and Marder infantry vehicles are only two examples of Germany’s current help, which he also praised.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, said via video conference on Friday that tanks signify more than words.

“Hundreds of “thank yous” do not equal hundreds of tanks,” he noted. “We can all use hundreds of words, but I can’t use words to defend myself against Russian fire; I need arms.”