The World – January 9, 2023

In a move that will significantly affect the course of the war between Russia and Ukraine

The British government is considering supplying British tanks to Ukraine for the first time since the outbreak of the war with Russia, in order to fight Russian troops .

Such a move would represent a significant increase in Western support for Ukraine, and could help urge other NATO allies, in particular Germany, to follow suit.

"This will encourage others to give tanks,"said a Ukrainian source.

The government of Rishi Sunak has not made any final decision yet, but if Britain signs such an extradition, it will become the first country to respond to the calls of Ukrainian leaders to equip their army with powerful Western tanks.

A US-led grouping of about 50 countries, including Britain, providing military support to Ukraine, is scheduled to hold its next meeting on January 20.

And any announcements about new assistance, such as tanks, can coincide with the group meeting.

One source suggested that Britain could provide about 10 Challenger 2 tanks, which is enough to equip the squadron.

The source said that this in itself would not be a "change of the course of the war" but it would still be very important because such a step would break the barrier that has so far prevented allies from supplying Western tanks to Ukraine for fear of being perceived as an excessive escalation by Russia.

Sources said that this may prompt other allies to do the same, as Ukraine has long ordered the mass production of German-made "Leopard 2" tanks, which are used by many European allies, including Germany, Poland, Finland, the Netherlands and Spain.

Warsaw and Helsinki have already indicated their readiness to supply Kiev with Leopard tanks, but this requires approval from Berlin because Germany holds the export license.

Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor, adopted a more cautious approach to supplying Ukraine with weapons from other countries such as Britain and the United States.

Berlin and Washington said in a joint statement last week that they would supply armoured fighting vehicles to Ukraine in an important policy shift. For Germany, this means the combat vehicle "Marder". As for the United States, it consisted of the "Bradley" combat vehicle.

Over the weekend, the economy minister said Berlin could not rule out the delivery of Leopard tanks, which are heavier combat vehicles than Marder tanks, but a German government spokesman said it had no plans to send tanks.