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Germany considers sending howitzers to Ukraine - security source

29 April 2022 19:41 (UTC +04:00)

Germany is considering sending long-ranged howitzers to Ukraine, said a security source on Friday, confirming a report published by Welt am Sonntag newspaper only days after Berlin first decided to supply heavy weapons to Kyiv, APA reports citing Reuters.

The move follows warnings by the Kremlin that Western arms supplies to Ukraine posed a threat to the security of the European continent "and provoke instability".

Ukraine's pleas for heavy weapons have intensified since Moscow shifted its offensive to the Donbas, an eastern region with largely flat, open terrain seen as better suited for tank battles than the areas in the north around the capital, Kyiv, where much of the earlier fighting took place.

Berlin is in talks with the Dutch government on delivering the Panzerhaubitze 2000 to Ukraine, the source said, referring to one of the most powerful artillery weapons in the Bundeswehr inventories that can hit targets at a distance of 40 km (25 miles).

The Dutch aim to supply a "limited number" of the same howitzers to Ukraine, ANP news agency reported on Tuesday, as Germany has offered to provide training and ammunition for the weapons built by German defence company KMW.