Germany will send an initial shipment of 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Wednesday following weeks of pressure from Washington and its European counterparts. 

“This decision follows our well-known line of supporting Ukraine to the best of our ability. We are acting internationally in a closely coordinated and concerted fashion,” Mr Scholz said in Berlin. 

The announcement comes after United States officials anonymously told The Wall Street Journal that the White House would announce the decision to send M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, a significant step in motivating Mr Scholz. 

Berlin said that the first batch of the military hardware, 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks, which would make up a battalion, will come from its army stock. In a second step, it promised to dispatch another Leopard 2 battalion, but it didn’t indicate when or explain whether they would be drawn from its current stock or the industry.

Berlin said that it will also permit the re-export of German-made tanks held by foreign nations.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has warned that the German shipment could damage relationships between the two nations.

“Such shipments do not bode well for the future of relations,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.