Kuleba: Ukraine’s next task includes receiving Western-made fighter jets

Ukraine’s new tasks ahead include getting Western-type fighter jets, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter on Jan. 25.

He added that imposing new sanctions against Russia and implementing the Peace Formula is also on the list.

Ukrainian authorities have a "peace formula" that includes withdrawing all Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine, restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, punishing those responsible for war crimes, and the release of all prisoners of war and deportees.

Kuleba's comments come shortly after U.S. President Joe Biden announced the decision to send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

It is the equivalent of “one Ukrainian battalion,” Biden said. Training of Ukrainian soldiers will begin “as soon as possible,” he said, adding the delivery of the tanks could “take time.”

Hours prior, Germany confirmed on Jan. 25 that it would send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine after months of delay and allow other countries, such as Poland, to send their own stocks.

Kuleba thanked Poland as the first country to publicly announce Leopard 2 tanks delivery. This initiative helped to form a “tank coalition” with tanks from NATO countries.

Pressure had been mounting for Berlin to greenlight the transfer of the powerful Leopards after Poland and the U.K. promised to send the first batches of Western tanks to Ukraine, whose soldiers are braving Russia’s brutal assaults in the country’s east and south.

Ukraine’s request for tanks and long-range missiles has been front and center of Kyiv’s diplomatic requests over the last months amid a potential new Russian offensive.

At the Ramstein-8 summit on Jan 20, 12 countries reportedly agreed to give Ukraine around 100 German-made Leopard 2 tanks.