Defense ministers of NATO and its allies held a high-stakes meeting Friday at Germany's Ramstein air base to make the decision on whether to send Germany's Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, something Kyiv has been pleading for for months.
Berlin could single-handedly veto the move, since the Leopard tanks, even if sent by other European armies that use them, as are a German re-export. It has deferred its decision instead despite mounting calls, saying it could not yet say when a decision could be made.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, wary of provoking Russia, has come under intense criticism for his reluctance to send more heavy weaponry to Ukraine as it fights to push back Russian forces.
Meanwhile, investigations continue into the cause of a helicopter crash near Kyiv on Wednesday that killed the country's interior minister and several of his colleagues. Russia's Federal Security Service said on Thursday that it opened a criminal case against a U.S. citizen on suspicion of espionage.
In the U.S., officials said they were sending another $2.5 billion in military weapons to Ukraine.