CNN, a US news network, said that the Biden administration is locked in a standoff with Germany over sending tanks to Ukraine, ahead of an important meeting of Western defense ministers in Germany on Friday.
In recent days, German officials have indicated that they will not send their Leopard tanks to Ukraine or allow any other country with German-made tanks to do so, unless the United States of America (USA) agrees to send its M1 Abrams tanks to Kyiv, which is something the Pentagon has been saying for months that it has no intention of doing, given the logistical costs of maintaining it.
"They put us on top of the barrel," a senior Biden administration official told CNN on the Germans.
The official added that Germans demand tanks for tanks, and they don't budge from considering any other offers by the United States to get Berlin to send tanks.
The standoff comes amid a much larger discussion between Washington and its allies in Europe over sending Ukraine more advanced weapons, including long-range missiles that would allow Ukraine to strike targets 200 miles, or 300 kilometers, away.
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