Up to this point Germany was reluctant to grant other countries the transfer rights to its German made tanks without the US authorizing the transfer of its Abrams tanks to Kiev. Obviously this reluctance was overcome in coordination with Biden's announcement.
Twelve days earlier Britain announced it will send its Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine while France seems poised to send its French AMX-56 LeClerc tanks as well.
Not to be outdone Spain indicated its willingness to send its Leopard 2 tanks and Sweden said it may send its Stridsvagn variation of the Leopard 2 while Norway and Portugal would consider sending their stock of 36 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
To all the above Russia's ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev commented, "Germany and its closest allies are not interested in a diplomatic solution in Ukraine but are set for a permanent escalation...with unlimited pumping of Ukraine with deadly weapons...taking the conflict to a new level of confrontation...and contradicts the statements of German politicians about Germany's unwillingness to get involved in it." [1]
Now whether the delivery of these tanks will have a decisive effect against the Russian forces in Ukraine...we'll have to wait and see.
Today, whether or not it's a direct response to yesterdays announcements, this morning a huge wave of Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian energy facilities were reported in Kiev, Odessa, Dneper, Vinnitsa, Krivoy Rog, Nikolaev and Zhytomir regions apparently from missiles incoming from the direction of the Caspian Sea." [2]
At this point three things seem clear:
1. There is an unmistakable escalation on the part of the US and its European allies in support of the Ukraine regime.
2. This war is not about to end anytime soon.
+3. Negotiations to end it seem dead in the water.
As for the Russians I believe they see this war as an existential conflict for their survival as a sovereign nation resisting all direct provocations against it.
As we know NATO has expanded to the very doorstep of Russia and Ukraine joining the bloc is a redline Russia would never accept.
Russia with the Soviet Union before it having lost 27 million people killed by Hitler's Nazi Germany in WWII know war intimately. Hardly any family was spared in the suffering their survivors had to endure.
In comparison we Americans suffered some 400 thousand mostly military casualties in WWII, Korea 36, 500, Vietnam some 58,000 killed, Iraq 5,000 and 2, 456 in Afghanistan. Thus most Americans have never experienced war intimately. Most are probably influenced by Americans fighting in war movies. This glorification of war may very well be why most Americans still support our military adventures (misadventures) rather than opposing them.
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