Ukraine-Russia news – live: Germany ‘agrees to send tanks’ to help fight Putin’s forces - The Independent

“If the United States decides to supply tanks, then justifying such a step with arguments about ‘defensive weapons’ will definitely not work.

In 2021, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu described the planned production run for 2022 as only an “experimental-industrial” batch.

1674633012 Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg expects the alliance’s member states to raise their current spending target on defence of 2 per cent of national output when they meet for a summit in Vilnius in July, he told German newspaper Die Welt.

“The two per cent target was initially for a decade, so until 2024, so we have to update it now.” Mr Stoltenberg said he could not yet say what the member states would agree on.

Several Nato allies have inflated their spending since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.

Nato member Norway, which itself borders Russia, may contribute either four or eight of the country’s 36 Leopard 2 tanks, according to Dagens Naeringsliv.