BAD STAFFELSTEIN (dpa-AFX) - Bavaria's Minister President and CSU party leader Markus Söder has spoken out in favor of supplying German Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine. "Germany has decided to supply weapons. So really can not explain to me why one tank should not be a problem, but another is," said Söder on Wednesday in Kloster Banz near Bad Staffelstein on the sidelines of the closed meeting of the CSU state parliamentary group.

On Friday, the "Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine" will meet at the U.S. base in Ramstein to discuss aid for the country attacked by Russia. For the German government, the new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) will participate for the first time./dm/had/DP/jha