Nato member Poland said on Wednesday it wanted to send Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, raising pressure on Germany to approve the transfer.
On a visit to Ukraine, Polish President Andrzej Duda said the German-made tanks would be offered “as part of building an international coalition”.
There was no indication that Germany, which claims the final say on how weapons from its factories are used, had agreed to such a move.
Pressure has been mounting on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to allow the Leopards to be donated, or to provide them from Germany's own stocks, to help Ukraine regain territory from Russia.
“The war is not ending,” Mr Duda said. “Everything indicates that Russia will continue to wage a war of attrition against Ukraine.”
Ukraine is seeking donations from several allies because no one country will be able to supply enough, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a briefing with Mr Duda on Wednesday.
At the meeting in Lviv, western Ukraine, Mr Duda and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda agreed to “continue providing powerful military, technical, defence, humanitarian and other support”, Mr Zelenskyy's office said.
Germany last year offered Leopards to the Czech Republic to replace Soviet-era equipment being sent to Ukraine.
But there were no known western tank donations until France this month announced it would send some light vehicles.
Germany then announced it would donate Marder fighting vehicles, but Ukraine has for months been asking for the heavier Leopards, a model first used by West German forces during the Cold War,
“I think that the German government also understands somewhere deep in its soul that this decision will be approved and the tanks will be given to Ukraine,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday.
Visiting Mr Kuleba in Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Berlin would send more weapons, without specifying which ones.
Ukraine conflict - in pictures
Mr Scholz's spokesman said on Wednesday that he was not aware of any formal requests for the transfer of Leopards to Ukraine.
Any such requests would be examined as and when they are made, he said.
Berlin has previously endorsed the shipment of German-made howitzers from the Netherlands, and of Czech and Estonian stocks that once belonged to communist East Germany.
It has justified its caution on tank shipments by saying it will not act unilaterally or risk making Nato a party to the conflict.
Top defence officials from the US, Britain, Germany and other Nato allies will hold their next round of talks at a US base in Germany on January 20.
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE tour of the Netherlands
UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
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Iraq negotiating over Iran sanctions impact
- US sanctions on Iran’s energy industry and exports took effect on Monday, November 5.
- Washington issued formal waivers to eight buyers of Iranian oil, allowing them to continue limited imports. Iraq did not receive a waiver.
- Iraq’s government is cooperating with the US to contain Iranian influence in the country, and increased Iraqi oil production is helping to make up for Iranian crude that sanctions are blocking from markets, US officials say.
- Iraq, the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped last month at a record 4.78 million barrels a day, former Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi said on Oct. 20. Iraq exported 3.83 million barrels a day last month, according to tanker tracking and data from port agents.
- Iraq has been working to restore production at its northern Kirkuk oil field. Kirkuk could add 200,000 barrels a day of oil to Iraq’s total output, Hook said.
- The country stopped trucking Kirkuk oil to Iran about three weeks ago, in line with U.S. sanctions, according to four people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t allowed to speak to media.
- Oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third-largest supplier, have slumped since President Donald Trump announced in May that he’d reimpose sanctions. Iran shipped about 1.76 million barrels a day in October out of 3.42 million in total production, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
- Benchmark Brent crude fell 47 cents to $72.70 a barrel in London trading at 7:26 a.m. local time. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was 25 cents lower at $62.85 a barrel in New York. WTI held near the lowest level in seven months as concerns of a tightening market eased after the U.S. granted its waivers to buyers of Iranian crude.
