Heavy military vehicles such as the Leopard 2 have been requested by Kyiv, which would constitute a major increase in the level of support provided by the West.
According to a report from Thursday, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto was quoted as suggesting that his country may give Ukraine a limited number of tanks produced by German manufacturer Leopard 2 if a larger group of European states opted to do the same thing.
After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2016, the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv has asked for heavy military vehicles such as the Leopard 2, which would constitute a major increase in the level of support provided by the West.
According to the President of Finland, who spoke with the national news agency STT, Finland has applied to become a member of NATO; but, because the country’s weaponry are needed to secure its lengthy border with Russia, Finland could only share a limited number of tanks with NATO.
According to comments made by Niinisto to STT, “If tanks would be dispatched, that is the reason why Finland’s offering might not be very many.”
While Germany has stated that it does not intend to send any tanks to Ukraine, Poland has stated that it would be willing to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine if there was a bigger coalition of countries doing so.
In a statement that was emailed to Reuters on Friday, the office of the president said that “if the position would change for the part of the battle tanks and a joint European cooperation would arise, Finland’s participation is also needed.”