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The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Trudy Rubin

Trudy Rubin: Biden's birthday present to Zelenskyy: M1 Abrams and German Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine

"Tanks but no tanks" and "Free the Leopards" were the clever headlines earlier this week about Ukraine.

They referred to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's frustrating refusal to send badly needed Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine to help Kyiv break the current military stalemate with Russia. Scholz kept insisting the U.S. must first send M1 Abrams tanks, even though the German tanks are far more suitable for the Ukrainian battlefield and can be delivered more quickly.

However, the Leopards were finally freed on Wednesday — coincidentally the birthday of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — thanks to a sudden but smart political decision by President Joe Biden.

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