The United States and Ukraine discussed further military aid as the war is approaching its first year. The discussions also come as Ukrainian troops are set to begin training on the German-made Leopard 2 and other battle tanks that would be used on the ground.
Ukraine’s armed forces commander in chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi spoke with US General Christopher Cavoli who is leading Europe’s combined NATO forces ahead of an upcoming US-led conference of defense heads from NATO countries on Tuesday. The meeting on Tuesday follows the January 20 conference at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany which was a key meeting to score pledges of sending battle tanks to Ukraine.
“We discussed the issue of supplying international military aid to Ukraine and training our units on the territory of partner countries,” said Zaluzhnyi, according to the Ukrainian defense ministry.
Since winning pledges of modern battle tanks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials in Kyiv have been urging allies to provide modern fighter jets and long-range missiles to bolster defenses and reclaim captured territories, pressuring the NATO alliance to support Ukraine.
Germany has begun training Ukrainian troops on the use of the Leopard 2 tanks on Monday at an army base in the northern town of Munster. At the base, Ukrainian troops are already exercising on Marder infantry fighting vehicles that would also be provided to Kyiv. German defense minister Boris Pistorius previously said the 14 Leopard 2 tanks and the trained Ukrainian crews would be in Ukraine around March or April.
Polish President Andrzej Duda oversaw a demonstration of Leopard 2 training at a military base in Swietoszow in southwestern Poland. Ukrainian troops are being trained by Polish, Canadian, and Norwegian instructors. Another group of Ukrainian troops is being trained to use the British Challenger 2 tanks.
Russia’s deputy security council chairman Dmitry Medvedev last week called for increased production of Russian tanks during a visit to the Omsk Transport Machine Construction facility, according to the British defense ministry on Wednesday. The ministry said that the call for a ramped-up production of Russian tanks follows the comments by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the country’s defense industry for increased support for what Moscow calls the war a “special military operation.”