Too much time taken to provide Ukraine with battle tanks, top diplomat says

A top EU diplomat warned on the final day of the Munich Security Conference that it took too long for Ukraine to be provided with battle tanks.

His words came after Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky urged western leaders to make faster deliveries of weapons that are critical to his country's defence against Russia.

"We have taken too much time to make critical decisions such as providing battle tanks," the EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

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Mr Borrell said that the war would be over if the EU does not solve the "shortage of ammunition" in "a matter of weeks."

A special meeting of EU defence ministers planned on 8 and 9 March will provide a chance for countries to offer ammunition from their existing stockpiles.

The foreign affairs chief told the conference: "We are in urgent war mode."

Mr Borrell called the war in Ukraine a "classic war", saying "everybody knows that in order to win a classical war, a classical war with manoeuvres of heavy arms, you need battle tanks".

"You will not win this war without this kind of arms," he added.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the conference that the UK was the first country to provide Ukraine with main battle tanks, having pledged a squadron of Challenger 2 tanks.

Rishi Sunak emphasised the UK's commitment to European security, saying "the UK may have left the European Union but it did not leave Europe".

Also speaking at the conference, Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas said that Russia was in war mode, producing ample ammunition and that there needs to be a similar stimulus from the EU.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, who did not attend the conference in person this year, told the delegates through a video address that weapons deliveries must be accelerated.

"There is no alternative to speed, because it is the speed that life depends on," President Zelensky said.

“Delay has always been, and still is, a mistake," he added.

Recalling his appearance at the conference a year ago, several days before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the President said: "We wanted to hear, 'Ukraine, we will be with you'. Unfortunately, I only heard that after Russian missiles started to hit Ukrainian land."

President Zelensky also expressed gratitude to his allies to date and said that he hoped that next year's Munich Security Conference will be a "post-war" conference.