AFP-Germany To Provide Tanks To Ukraine

AFP reporting that according to gov't sources, Germany is set to provide tanks to Ukraine in a significant change of policy stance from Berlin.

• The move would mark a significant change in course from Berlin, where the gov't had previously proved reluctant to even send lethal aid to Ukraine (at the start of the conflict there was criticism of Berlin's offer of thousands of helmets to the Ukrainian armed forces).
• Chancellor Olaf Scholz had been under pressure from ministers from his junior coalition allies, the Greens and the Free Democrats to boost military support to Ukraine. Some in his centre-left Social Democrats had been hesitant to engage in the provision of heavy weaponry, but it appears that this has been put to one side.
• Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht is likely to officially inform NATO and EU counterparts at a meeting at Ramstein airbase in Germany later today.
• Would mark a futher escalation in the conflict. Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Western military supplies to Ukraine meant that NATO and Russia were 'in essensce' engaged in a proxy war in Ukraine. He also warned not to underestimate the prospect of nuclear war.