Poland announced Sunday that it plans to build a "mini-alliance" of countries ready to deliver tanks to Ukraine, at a time when Berlin and Paris promised to supply Kyiv with advanced battle tanks.

Meanwhile, Norway revealed a record death toll from the Russian-Ukrainian war since its outbreak.

Poland, which announced its willingness to hand over 14 tanks of this type to Kyiv, indicated that it is in discussions with about 15 countries in this regard.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki confirmed that if Berlin refuses to provide Kyiv with tanks, "we will form a mini-alliance of countries ready to give some of their modern equipment and tanks to Ukraine, which is facing a crisis."

The Polish announcement came at an important meeting in Germany, during which some Ukrainian officials criticized allies' reluctance to support Kyiv with combat tanks, but Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said he expected Kyiv forces to start training soon on Leopard tanks in Poland.

BREAKING:

Polish PM @MorawieckiM:

“Poland won't passively watch Ukraine bleed to death.

If Germany won't agree on sending Leopards, we will build a "smaller coalition" of countries ready to donate some of their modern tanks to Ukraine.

🇵🇱🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/aZ9t78khNQ

- Visegrad 24 (@visegrad24) January 22, 2023

German confirmation of "Leopard"

In confirmation of this, German Foreign Minister Analina Berbock announced that Berlin is ready to allow Poland to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine to help it in the war if Warsaw makes a request in this regard.

"If we were asked the question, we would not stand in the way" of Poland, Birbock told the French "LCE" channel, after a Franco-German summit in Paris. "We know how important these tanks are, so we are discussing that now with our partners."

On the other hand, French President Emmanuel Macron said that France does not rule out the possibility of delivering "Leclerc" combat tanks to Ukraine.

"Regarding Leclerc, we don't rule anything out," Macron said at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Paris.

However, Macron emphasized that the deployment of Leclerc tanks should not cause an escalation of the conflict, should not weaken France's defense capabilities, and should represent realistic and effective support for Ukraine.

He said the issue would be discussed with allies such as Germany in the coming days and weeks.

So far, no Western-designed main tanks have been provided to Ukraine in order to enhance its defense against the Russians, but Britain has pledged to provide 14 Challenger tanks to Ukraine.

The foreign ministers of the three Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) urged Berlin on Saturday to "supply Ukraine with Leopard tanks now," pointing to the "special responsibility" of Germany, "the first European power."

On the other hand, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that supplying Ukraine with offensive weapons would lead to a global catastrophe

Great death toll

In a related context, Norway revealed that the ongoing battles for more than a year have left 180,000 dead or wounded among the Russian army and 100,000 on the Ukrainian side, in addition to killing 30,000 civilians.

And the Norwegian Chief of Staff, Erik Christophersen, announced in a television interview that despite its heavy losses, "Russia is able to continue (this war) for a long time," citing Moscow's capabilities in mobilization and weapons production.

"The most worrying thing is whether Ukraine will be able to keep the Russian Air Force out of the war," while it has so far been able to keep it out of the war to a large extent "thanks to Ukrainian anti-aircraft forces," he added.

The military official in this country bordering Russia, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since its founding in 1949, called for the delivery of combat tanks to Ukraine, saying, "Ukraine needs these tanks quickly if it has to launch a counterattack in the winter."

And last November, US Chief of Staff Mark Milley said that the Russian army had suffered losses of more than 100,000 soldiers killed or wounded, with a similar toll "probably" on the Ukrainian side.