Do the pros of sending tanks to Ukraine outweigh the cons?

WW2 was not shameful. It was a war against fascism and moreover one of survival.

Greyduster

We are a major NATO partner so IMO we don’t have a lot of choice. Warsaw and Helsinki have said they will send the Leopard tank, but Germany holds the export licence so they have the final word. We would supply Challenger 2 which, like the Leopard, is light years away from the old soviet era tanks that the Ukraine has at the moment. It would certainly up,their game.

Our Challengers are mostly old and worn out they are restricting the training on them, plenty of modern Leopards and US tanks. But tanks are very vulnerable to one soldier with a shoulder launched missile, as the Russians found out. Artillery and Cruise Missiles are more effective along with infantry weapons and defensive weapons of course.

Should we be sending Ukraine more?, that depends if we foresee Ukraine regaining the lost land, if we do then NATO has to supply much more. Russia is well established, the sanctions don’t seem to be reducing their fighting capacity and they are just as capable of producing the weapons being used as the NATO.

At some stage a peace deal has to be made the question is when.

Putin wants to rebuild Russia as it was in 1989. Ruling everywhere from the Baltic to the Pacific. Lands that were given their independence in that year.

He started small supporting rebellions in remote areas of Georgia, and Moldavia, recently he has supported the government in Belorus. It is now a client state. he has done all this with one eye on NATO, to see how it has reacted - and, he saw that NATO was doing nothing.

Then in 2014, he invaded the Crimea and supported pro-russian groups in the Donbas region. Once again he had got away with it. We faced a future of Putin gradually re-occupying and recreating the old Soviet Union and creating another military state. That is why NATO had to say, thus far and no further.

Remember the poem by Martin Niemoller?

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

Replace communist, socialist, jew, with Ukraine, Moldavia, Poland, Romania etc.

That is what will happen if we do not support Ukraine.

We are a major NATO partner so IMO we don’t have a lot of choice. Warsaw and Helsinki have said they will send the Leopard tank, but Germany holds the export licence so they have the final word. We would supply Challenger 2 which, like the Leopard, is light years away from the old soviet era tanks that the Ukraine has at the moment. It would certainly up,their game.

Hey, good job we participated in the second world war tho!

Yes, the West should continue to send arms to Ukraine, we don’t know what Putin or his successors will do in the future and have to act as one over this.

Of course arms manufacturers are pleased, it’s what they are in business for, arms for wars or for protection

I think this country has done well to take so many Afghans in, those that worked for us.It’s a shame they haven’t all been housed properly yet, but there are many others here including British citizens living in hotels or hostels.They all need housing properly, but at least they are out of the talibans reach.

My preference would always be to send arms and equipment over sending U.K. Forces to fight on foreign soil.

President Putin may not be rational, he appears to want the old USSR back. His successor could be better or could be worse.

NATO and it’s allies/members has no choice other than to support Ukraine, who knows which Country could be next on Russia’s list?

Does being old stop you from being an aggressor?
The pros in my mind are standing with our allies, in the way I hope Ukraine would have done for us if the shoe were on the other foot.