Germany is ready to authorise Poland to send German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine to help Kyiv fight the Russian invasion if Warsaw makes such a request, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Sunday.
"If we are asked the question, then we will not stand in the way," Baerbock told LCI television after a Franco-German summit meeting in Paris.
Baerbock, who represents the Greens in Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling coalition, said that Poland had yet to make a formal request.
Her comments come as Berlin resists pressure from Kyiv to send some of its own stocks of the Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
Poland has announced it is ready to deliver 14 Leopard tanks to Kyiv but Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he was waiting for "a clear statement" from Berlin whether countries that have the Leopards can transfer them to Ukraine.
He also described Germany's refusal to send its own tanks to Ukraine as "unacceptable".
"Innocent people are dying every day," told the PAP agency.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday there was "no alternative" but for the West to give Ukraine heavy tanks.
Reports earlier in the week indicated Germany would agree to do so only if the US provided its tanks as well. Washington has said providing its Abrams tanks to Ukraine is not feasible, citing difficulties in training and maintenance.
