NATO military consider risks in Leopard deliveries to be manageable
The supreme commander of the NATO forces in Europe considers the possible escalation risks from a delivery of Western main battle tanks to Ukraine to be manageable. “Can we manage the risk? Yes absolutely. I think we can deal with risk in general,” said US General Christopher Cavoli at a press conference on Thursday after a meeting of the NATO military committee in Brussels. In doing so, he made it clear that he sees no great danger of Russia reacting to the delivery of Western battle tanks to Ukraine with military strikes against NATO countries.
Asked about the importance of supplying Western tanks like the Leopoard 2 to Ukraine, committee chairman Rob Bauer said tanks are an important weapon system to fight the Russians and drive them out of occupied territory. “The Russians fight with tanks, so the Ukrainians need tanks too,” he explained. On the one hand, they would be needed to be able to keep up with the enemy, but on the other hand, to recapture territory occupied by Russia.