Amidst a media blackout in the New York Times on Friday, January 20th, 2023, where the New York Times featured no story on Ukraine in its headlines, the Ramstein meeting, a highly anticipated meeting on Leopard II tank shipments to Ukraine among leaders from the United States and NATO allies in Germany, concludes with the announcement that NATO countries failed to reach a unified position regarding the shipment of tanks to Kyiv. 

Shortly after the conclusion of the Ukraine contact group (Treffen Der Ukraine-Kontaktgruppe) at Ramstein, which arose in response to the United Kingdom’s decision to apply pressure on Germany through the delivery of UK’s Challenger II tanks, the new head of Germany’s Defense Ministry, Boris Pistorius, announced, before a group of reporters just outside of the Ramstein base: “The impression that there is a united coalition and Germany is standing in the way is wrong.” 

Pistorius, however, noted that Germany would make “[their] decisions as soon as possible.” 

Ordering the ministry to examine the availability of tank stocks in Germany’s arsenals, Pistorius added that Germany will “balance all the pros and contras before we decide things like that. … I am very sure that there will be a decision in the short term but … I don’t know how the decision will look.”

Pistorius’ statement underscores the divisions within Europe over the Ukraine war. These divisions are arising from a number of factors, the vast majority of which affect European countries with a great impact than the United States, in regards to a worsening outlook for the economies of Europe, as the war continues to exacerbate tensions among European countries over Russia’s cheap oil, gas, or coal, refugees fleeing the war, inflation, the rising cost of food, as well as disagreements with Washington, where the Pentagon declines to send its own tanks, M1 Abrams, to Ukraine. 

The U.K. is sending 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks, self-propelled artillery and thousands of rounds of ammunition to Ukraine with the goal of helping troops push back against Russian troops in the eastern and southern parts of the country, U.K.’s foreign minister said Tuesday, January 17th, 2023.

In regards to the U.K.’s announcement from last week on the shipment of Challenger 2 tanks, commentators have noted the UK’s shipment cannot be regarded as anything but a token gesture. The number of tanks, 14, does not amount noted that the shipment is more of a token gesture announced last week Describing that move as a natural progression of military aid to Ukraine, the number of tanks is no more than the amount required to form a company. It is not enough to form at battalion (which consists of 56 tanks where each consist of 14 tanks). 

In addition to the fact that the number of tanks form no more than a company, the company of Challenger 2 tanks is likely to confront a myriad of challenges in the form of logistics on the battlefield. The fact that the barrel requires ammunition other than what Ukraine’s current tank battalions require requires a separation supply chain to ensure the tanks are fully loaded with munitions. The Challenger 2’s barrel is 5 mm less in width than the T 72’s 125 mm rifled tank cannon.  The tanks run on a special fuel, the likes of which does not exist in Ukraine. There are no reports that Ukrainian mechanics have trained how to repair the vehicles.

Under these circumstances, the Challenger 2 tank company is subject to rapid decommission more than likely within its first contact with Russian armed forces. It is likely that these tanks may not have an impact on the war. Many more tanks would be needed. Military analysts predict that Ukraine would need no less than two battalions of European tanks to effectuate a change of state on the battlefield.

Ahead of the Ramstein meeting, the U.S. approved a new package of military aid in the amount of $2.5 billion. Austin and U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were expected to discuss the latest massive package of aid the U.S. is sending, which includes Stryker armored vehicles for the first time.

The latest package of U.S. aid includes eight Avenger air defense systems, 350 Humvees, 53 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, more than 100,000 rounds of artillery ammunition and rockets, and missiles for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. It was announced Thursday by the Pentagon.

Other pledges announced ahead of the Ramstein meeting. Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania together pledged to provide Ukraine with S-60 anti-aircraft guns with 70,000 rounds of ammunition, additional Stinger air-defense systems and two M-17 helicopters, and two Russian-made Mi-8 helicopters and dozens of L-70 anti-aircraft guns with ammunition.

In response to the pledges and UK’s deliveries after the Ramstein meeting, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the deployment of Western tanks would trigger “unambiguously negative” consequences. 

“All of these tanks will require both maintenance and repairs and so on, so they will do nothing but add to Ukraine’s growing list of problems. It will not change anything with regards to the achievement of Russia’s goals on the battlefield.” 

Despite disagreements over the nature, scope, amount or timing of the delivery of advanced military killing machinery from NATO, the US or UK to Ukraine, the divisions, which point to tactical decisions over how one or more of the powers in Europe is perceived, do not point, at least amongst the leading members, to a strategic schism over the overall aim of NATO’s objective in Ukraine. 

Whatever tactical differences have arose over the course of the past 12 months, NATO is undoubtedly driving the war effort. The lack of unity does not point to a breakdown of NATO’s war effort, which, according to the pledges of the various nations, is proceeding according to schedule. 

It is clear that the Ukraine war, for which the vast majority of petty bourgeois left wing organizations have decried as one of aggression by Russia, is not merely so. The vast amounts of military aid, ranging not merely from defensive but to offensive weaponry, cannot serve in lieu of a member’s absence on the battlefield to prove against their active participation in the war. Let there be no mistake about the Ukraine war. The Ukraine war is a NATO proxy war against Russia.