Germany under growing pressure to provide tanks to Ukraine

Ahead of a key meeting of Ukraine's supporters in Germany today, there have been pledges of additional military hardware for Kyiv's forces. Just last night the US announced an additional $2.5 billion dollars of equipment. But it notably did not mention the item at the top of Ukrainian President Zelensky's wish list - German made Leopard 2 tanks. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing mounting pressure to export the tanks to Ukraine but so far it has refused to supply them directly, or to sanction supplies from other European nations. The country is hugely divided on the issue - not only among the general population, but also in the corridors of power: Chancellor Scholz's Social Democrats are resistant to providing tanks, their coalition partners, the Greens, are not. The Polish prime minister has said he is "moderately pessimistic" about getting Berlin's blessing for the tanks to be provided. The UK has promised 14 of their Challenger 2 tanks.

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