Berlin/Brussels, 10 January 2023 (dpa/MIA) – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday joined calls to supply Ukraine with Leopard tanks amid a debate about how far Western powers should go in giving Kiev modern weapons.

“I think that Ukraine should get all the necessary military equipment they need and they can handle to defend their homeland,” von der Leyen said at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Ukraine should not only receive advanced air defence systems “but also other types of advanced military equipment as long as it is necessary to defend Ukraine,” she said.

In a major policy shift last week, the German government said Berlin would provide about 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles to the Ukrainian military.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is now facing calls from lawmakers in his government to supply heavier tanks, like the Leopard tanks, but has insisted he will only move in concert with his allies.

Speaking at the signing ceremony for a cooperation declaration between NATO and the European Union, von der Leyen said Kiev was defending the basic principles of the United Nations Charter, fundamental rights and international law.

The president of the German Armed Forces Reservists Association, Patrick Sensburg, said earlier Tuesday he was in favour of supplying Ukraine with the Leopards.

“As an armoured infantry fighting vehicle, the Marder offers the possibility of moving soldiers quickly from one place to another,” Sensburg told German media group Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RDN).

But the Marder was “most effective in combination, ideally, of course, with the Leopard main battle tank,” he added. “That is why support with main battle tanks is the next logical step.”

Sending another type of battle tank from a different country was also a possibility, according to Sensburg.

Tank deliveries have until now been considered a sensitive matter by some Western powers, amid fears that it will lead to an escalation and a widening of the conflict.

Countries like Spain and Poland, who want to supply the German-made Leopard tanks, cannot do so without the approval of the manufacturing country, Germany.