The president’s representative in the BP also emphasized that Ukraine will not guarantee the non-use of Western equipment against targets in Russia.

Ukraine needs from 500 to 700 tanks to completely liberate the territories occupied by Russia. Kyiv will not give guarantees of non-use of Western equipment against targets in the Russian Federation.

Fedir Venislavskyi, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and representative of the President of Ukraine in the Parliament, stated this in an interview with the German publication “Bild”.

According to him, the tanks promised to us by our partners at the moment, which is a maximum of 143 units of equipment, are not enough for an unequivocal end to the war.

“In order to completely liberate our territory, we need 500 to 700 tanks,” Venislavsky emphasized.

He noted that if the tanks had been delivered during the Ukrainian army’s major offensive last summer, the liberation would have progressed much further, and the outcome of the war might even have been decided. “We lacked 100 tanks, then we could completely liberate Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” Venislavskyi said.

The president’s representative in the parliament also emphasized that Ukraine will not guarantee the non-use of Western equipment against targets on the territory of Russia.

“Some Western experts have the idea that Ukraine should promise not to use its military equipment on the territory of the Russian Federation. This is an idea from a parallel world,” said Venislavskyi.

He emphasized that all military facilities from which the war against Ukraine is being waged are legitimate military targets of Ukraine. He clarified that this also applies to Moscow.

“Any command post in the Russian capital is a legitimate military target. I see no problem in attacking them,” said the president’s representative in the Verkhovna Rada and added that the country’s military leadership will make the decision.

“In any case, one thing is clear: the less determined our allies are, the more civilians die in Ukraine,” said Venislavskyi.

Delivery of tanks to Ukraine – what is known

As reported, after a long debate, Western countries decided to supply tanks to Ukraine. So, on January 15, Great Britain officially announced the transfer of a squadron of 14 Challenger 2 tanks and 30 AS90 self-propelled artillery units to Ukraine.

On January 25, the German federal government approved the transfer of 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and allowed other countries to re-export German-made tanks to Ukraine. After that, it became known that the German government approved the delivery of 88 of its old Leopard 1 tanks to Kyiv.

On the same day, US President Joe Biden announced that the United States was providing Ukraine with 31 Abrams tanks. Also, 8 repair and evacuation vehicles for tank maintenance will be sent to Ukraine.

Canada intends to provide Ukraine with four Leopard 2 main battle tanks and instructors to train the Ukrainian military to operate these vehicles.

According to the calculations of our ambassador in France, more than 320 armored vehicles from different countries have been promised in total. According to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, 120-140 tanks are expected in the first wave of deliveries. However, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi noted that Ukraine needs up to 500 combat vehicles of this type.

According to Oleksiy Reznikov, the Ministry of Defense expects a large number of Western tanks to arrive in Ukraine “soon.” According to him, the “tank coalition” in support of Ukraine has been officially created and is actively developing.