Nato chief says Western tanks will make 'big difference' to Ukraine's ability to win war

Nato's Secretary General has said sending tanks to Ukraine will make a "big difference" to the country's ability to win the war.

Jens Stoltenberg told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "Battle tanks are going to make a big difference.

"This will help them repel Russian offensives, to help them to be able to retake territory, liberate more Ukrainian lands and to win this war to prevail as a sovereign independent nation. We will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes."

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But he would not explicitly say he is pressing for Nato countries to give Ukraine the 300 tanks it says will help win the war.

The US says it will send 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, reversing claims they are unsuitable for use in the war with Russia.

Germany confirmed it will provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 battle tanks and approve requests by other countries – such as Poland – to do the same.

An advisor to Ukraine's defence minister has said Western countries have made "no clear indication" of how many tanks will be sent.

Yuriy Sak told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "We need 300 to 400 tanks for this to be a game changer.

"This tank coalition consisting of different countries, we have no clear indication of how many tanks each country will provide. We have communicated to our partners that this is the number that we need.

"If you want missile terror to stop, you need to receive the weapons that will allow us to defeat the enemy on the battlefield.

"The sooner we defeat Russia on the battlefield using Western weapons the sooner we will be able to stop this missile terror and restore peace."

Commons Defence Committee chairman Tobias Ellwood has said that western countries need to do more to back Ukraine.

Speaking to Sky News, the Tory MP said: "There is nothing the West has done to date that threatened Moscow’s agenda.

"We're now starting to talk with the political will to actually give Ukraine the necessary hardware that it can start to fight back, but it's taken a full year to muster this hardware."

He added: "We must recognise that Putin is now the most disruptive force in Europe and the penny really hasn't dropped.

"I think it is always worth underlining how the UK has tried to push the envelope of what could be done."