The story of the supply of Western tanks to Ukraine is stuck in the stage of uncertainty.
On the one hand, the German Chancellor Scholz seemed to be bent, he agreed to the supply of Leopard, and the governments of Great Britain and the United States did not seem to have to bend - they agreed in advance to supply the Challenger and Abrams.
If Zelensky is completely impatient, Macron will probably agree to supply Leclerc.
On the other hand, consent is consent, readiness is readiness, but in reality it turns out according to Vasya Terkin: “It is indicated on the menu, but not in kind.”
The question remains open when the speeches of loyal allies will materialize, that is, in Eastern Ukraine:
“The drivers will press the starters,
And through the forests, along the hills, along the water ...
Thundering with fire, sparkling with the brilliance of steel
Cars will go on a furious campaign.
So far this has not happened - and it is not known when.
However, as long as there are no real armored vehicles yet, Zelensky is already demanding combat aircraft and ballistic missiles.
And if the readiness to supply missiles is so far demonstrated only by those who themselves do not possess them, and in general do not possess anything but fearless courage - the Lithuanian President Nauseda and his ilk - then men who have hitherto been considered serious also talk about airplanes.
French Minister of War Lecornu, who indicated that he had no taboo in this regard, or the chairman of the Munich Security Conference Heusgen, who said that the supply of combat aircraft to Kyiv would not make the West a party to the conflict.
Although it will not be Herr Heusgen who will decide whether he will do it or not, but the people sitting in the Kremlin.
By the way, there are no special complaints about Zelensky.
A politician who is in a desperate situation is not shy about wishes and demands.
Stalin's correspondence with Churchill and Roosevelt in 1941-1942 clearly testifies to this, right down to the request to send two British divisions to the Soviet-German front.
This is especially true for requests for the supply of equipment.
Moreover, often the quality of technology left much to be desired.
In September 1942, an outraged Stalin told General Zhukov: “09/10/1942: “While tens and hundreds of thousands of our soldiers are giving their lives, Churchill is bargaining for two dozen Hurricanes.
And their Hurricanes are rubbish, our pilots do not like this car.
Something similar happened with tanks.
The English Matilda and Valentine also did not enjoy the special love of our tankers, while they directly called the American Sherman "a mass grave."
But there was no choice.
With an acute shortage of tanks, Matilda will do.
With Leopard and Abrams now a similar picture.
But if you don’t take the completely tough revisionists who believe that Lend-Lease is just a complete fiction and the Anglo-Americans did not help in any way, historians of a completely pro-Soviet direction, but remaining on the basis of reality, point out that the main and invaluable merit of Lend-Lease was not so many in aircraft tanks and not even in the "second front", that is, American stew.
The main merit was in critical imports.
Non-ferrous metals, explosives, rubber, high octane gasoline.
As well as locomotives, wagons, Studebaker, radio stations.
Neither gasoline, nor a steam locomotive, nor a copper ingot directly destroy the enemy, but without them the work of the war economy would be difficult and the numbers of our own weapons production would be lower.
With corresponding consequences for the front.
Then the question arises, what about critical imports today, what is the role of valiant allies here.
The Leopard theme, which flooded the media, actually indicates that Ukraine no longer has its own tank industry.
Although it was only recently.
In the Great Patriotic War, in addition to the very useful Studebaker, there were also Soviet three-tons and one and a half.
What is now with the fleet of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is generally difficult to understand.
There is nothing to say about aircraft construction.
It is also unclear what happened to rocket science, which was a very serious industry in the Ukrainian SSR.
Is there anything left of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex at all - and if anything is left, how does the West contribute to the production of military products in Ukraine?
Of course, the deliveries of tanks (even if only supposed ones) are media, they give the appropriate picture.
While the supply of bearings is not at all media and the layman - even Western, even Ukrainian - cannot impress.
However, without bearings, nothing will spin.
Same with rubber, explosives, etc.
A strange picture emerges.
Either Ukraine is an example of a country that is at war without a war economy - its only cannon fodder, and everything else is imported, or the war economy still exists, but we are lazy and incurious and do not pay attention to it.
But in vain.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.