Russia Dismisses NATO Delivery of Armored Vehicles to Ukraine

Soldiers follow a Marder infantry fighting vehicle during a demonstration event held for the media by the German Bundeswehr in Bergen near Hannover, Germany, on Sept. 28, 2011. (Michael Sohn/AP Photo)

The Russians dismissed the news of Western armored vehicles to Ukraine as inconsequential to the course of the conflict.

France, Germany, and the United States said last week that they would send light armored combat vehicles to Ukraine to fulfill their pledge to send more military support to Kyiv.

Ukraine has been asking its Western allies for months to provide heavier weapons and air defenses to bolster its defenses against Russia since the war began in February 2022.

However, the Kremlin said that the deliveries of armored vehicles to Kyiv would only “deepen the suffering of the Ukrainian people” and would not change the end result of the conflict.

“This supply will not be able to change anything,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a press conference on Jan. 9.

“These supplies can only add to the pain of the Ukrainian people and prolong their suffering. They are not capable of stopping us from achieving the goals of the special military operation,” said Peskov.

NATO Members to Send Advanced Equipment to Bolster Ukraine’s Defenses

The Biden administration’s $2.85 billion drawdown assistance package, announced on Jan. 6, includes a shipment of M2 Bradley armored infantry fighting vehicles.

The Bradleys were personally requested by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his visit to Washington last month, a Ukrainian official told CBS News.

The infantry combat vehicles could “change the equation on the battlefield” in Ukraine, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters last week.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia Laura Cooper said on Jan. 6 that 50 Bradley vehicles would be fielded in Ukraine over the coming months, CBS News reported.

Germany and the United States both pledged to sends Patriot missile batteries to Ukraine, according to a joint statement, after a call between President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, to bolster the country’s air defenses.

The Germans also plan on delivering Marder armored personnel carriers and training Ukrainian soldiers on how to use them.

The French Defense Ministry, on Jan. 5, said that it would arrange a delivery of AMX-10 RC wheeled tank destroyers to the Ukrainian military, the Associated Press reported.

The United Kingdom is also considering whether to send as many as 10 Challenger 2 main battle tanks, reported Sky News on Jan. 9.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has yet to decide on such a delivery, but it would be the the first time that a NATO member would agree to deliver modern Western battle tanks to the Ukrainians.

So far, the Germans and the Americans have been reluctant to fulfill demands by Ukraine to send heavy Leopard 2 and M1 Abrams battle tanks.

Russians Dismiss Western Deliveries of Armored Vehicles and Missiles

Meanwhile, the Kremlin spokesman sarcastically said that President Vladimir Putin appreciated President Emmanuel Macron’s attempts at maintaining dialogue between the West and Russia, despite France’s decision to send more weapons to Kyiv.

“Putin and Macron maintain contact—there are pauses in the dialogue—but during previous stages that contact was quite useful and constructive, despite all the differences,” said Peskov.

Macron held phone conversation with Putin in the first weeks of Russia’s invasion in attempt to end the conflict, to much criticism from other Western allies.

Baltic governments rebuked Macron in December for saying the West should seriously consider Russia’s need for “security guarantees” in any future negotiations to end the fighting.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.