Supporting Ukraine isn’t ‘escalation’

Ukraine’s Western allies must of course be careful to ensure events don’t spin out of control – that support is designed to boost the Ukrainian resistance without drawing other powers directly into the conflict. But this fear of ‘escalation’ is directed at the wrong side. Because if the threat of things spiralling out of control is coming from anywhere, it is not coming from Ukraine, using Western weapons to defend its territory. It’s coming from Moscow. It’s coming from Russia. It’s coming from the nation that, just under a year ago, invaded another nation. It doesn’t get much more escalationary than that.

Yes, Germany’s Leopard tanks are serious pieces of military hardware. They are quicker, more powerful and better armoured than Russia’s tanks, which would give the Ukrainian army a potentially pivotal battlefield advantage (at the moment Ukraine is operating with several hundred Soviet-era tanks). And, unlike their American- or British-made equivalents, Leopard 2s are easily and quickly available, with European armies estimated to operate some 2,000 of them. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky claims that 300 or so could be enough to repel the Russian invasion.

But to present the potential provision of these tanks as an escalation of the war in Ukraine is wrong. They may technically be ‘offensive’ weapons. They may allow the Ukrainian armed forces to mount a significant assault on Russian lines. But their purpose is defensive. They wouldn’t be used to push into Russian territory. They would be used to push Russia out of Ukrainian territory. They would be used to resist Russian aggression. To defend against the daily artillery, rocket and drone attacks. In short, they would be used to defy Russian attempts at further military escalation.