Western allies meet on Ukraine after fresh arms pledges

Representatives from 50 countries are set to gather in Germany on Jan. 20 to discuss support for the next stage of Ukraine's war against Russia, one day after the United States and European allies announced substantial new arms shipments.

The Pentagon on Thursday released a long list of $2.5 billion worth of supplies for Ukrainian forces, including Bradley fighting vehicles, armoured personnel carriers, air defence systems, and tens of thousands of rockets and artillery rounds.

Britain announced it would send 600 Brimstone missiles, Denmark said it would donate 19 French-made Caesar howitzers, and Sweden promised its Archer artillery system, a modern mobile howitzer requested by Kyiv for months.The arms announcements came as defence and other officials from some 50 countries, including all 30 NATO members, prepared to meet in Ramstein, Germany to discuss what further support they could offer the war-torn country

.Looking ahead to the German talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Kyiv expected "strong decisions" and "a powerful military support package from the United States".- No US, German tanks -The United States and Germany have so far stopped short of granting Zelensky's requests for their most modern battle tanks, which the Kremlin warned would amount to an "extremely dangerous" escalation if sent by the West.Germany has been cautious about providing heavy weapons for Ukraine, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing mounting pressure within Europe to authorise exports of German-made Leopard tanks ahead of the Ramstein meeting.

At the annual World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Scholz told US Congress members that Germany would supply heavy tanks to Ukraine if the United States sent tanks too, a senior US...