Several countries are set to announce sending heavy tanks to support Ukraine's war with Russia on Friday, a senior official said on Thursday, after Western allies pledged billions of Dollars in new weapons ahead of a crunch meeting on arms for Kyiv scheduled to take place in Germany.

The pledges came amid big questions over whether German-made Leopard battle tanks would be delivered to Ukraine, as Berlin is yet to signal whether it would lift a veto.

Kyiv has been particularly pushing for Leopard tanks, which are possessed by an array of NATO nations but whose transfer to Ukraine requires Germany's approval, fearing winter will give Russian forces time to regroup and unleash a major attack.

A German government source said Berlin would lift its objections if Washington sends its own Abrams tanks. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat, has been reluctant to send weapons to Ukraine, seen as provoking Moscow. Many of Berlin's Western allies say that concern is misplaced, with Russia already fully committed to war.

The two countries tried to resolve the stand-off as U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the new German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius met in Berlin. But there was no word on whether they made progress ahead of a meeting of dozens of allies on Friday at Ramstein, Washington's main European air base.

Yet, later on Thursday, Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said several countries would announce sending Leopard tanks to Ukraine on Friday at the meeting at the German Ramstein Air Base. "Some of the countries will definitely send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, that is for sure", said Anusauskas to Reuters, about the Ramstein pledges, speaking after a preparatory meeting of 11 nations in Estonia. The total number of armored vehicles pledged at Ramstein will go into the hundreds, Anusauskas added.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy engagedin a thinly disguised criticism of Germany for its stance on tanks. "'I am powerful in Europe, I will help if someone else outside of Europe will also help.' It seems to me that this is not a very correct strategy," he said.

The Ramstein meeting is billed as a chance for the West to give Ukraine what it needs to defeat Russia in 2023 and countries including Canada, the Netherlands and Sweden have already announced armored vehicles and air defenses.

But Kyiv says it needs heavy tanks to fend off Russian assaults and recapture occupied land. "We have no time, the world does not have this time. The question of tanks for Ukraine must be closed as soon as possible. We are paying for the delay with the lives of our people. It shouldn't be like that," Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, wrote on Telegram on Thursday.

Berlin has so far blocked allies from sending its Leopard 2 tanks, workhorse of militaries across Europe. Washington and many Western allies say the Leopards – which Germany made in the thousands during the Cold War – are the only viable option available in big enough numbers.

U.S. officials say they have no plans yet to send the Abrams, which runs on powerful turbine engines seen as using too much fuel for Kyiv's strained logistics system to supply at the front.

Not normal times

Pistorius and Austin both spoke about the importance of supporting Ukraine ahead of their meeting, but neither addressed the tank issue directly.

At a ceremony after being sworn in, Pistorius said, "These are not normal times, we have a war raging in Europe. Russia is waging a brutal war of annihilation on a sovereign country, on Ukraine."

Austin described Germany as one of Washington's closest allies and thanked it for its support for Ukraine so far.

Poland and Finland have already said they would send Leopards if Germany lifted its veto. In a sign of mounting frustration, Poland suggested it might do so even if Germany tries to block it.

Russia has responded to the prospect of more weapons for Kyiv with threats of escalation. Dmitry Medvedev, a Vladimir Putin ally who stood in as president from 2008-2012 when Putin took a hiatus to act as prime minister, made one of Moscow's clearest threats to use nuclear weapons if it loses in Ukraine. "The defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war may trigger a nuclear war. Nuclear powers have never lost major conflicts on which their fate depends," he said.

There have been signs of friction within Germany's governing coalition. Scholz's deputy Robert Habeck, from his coalition partners The Greens, said just last week that Germany would not stand in the way of other countries sending Leopards to Ukraine.

Tying the Leopards to U.S. Abrams tanks could shift the onus onto Washington. Colin Kahl, the Pentagon's top policy adviser, said on Wednesday that Abrams tanks were not likely to be included in Washington's next massive $2 billion military aid package, to be headlined by Stryker and Bradley armored vehicles. "The Abrams tank is a very complicated piece of equipment. It's expensive. It's hard to train on. It has a jet engine," said Kahl.

Ukraine and Russia have both relied primarily on Soviet-era T-72 tanks, which have been destroyed in their hundreds in 11 months of fighting. Kyiv says better armed and protected Western tanks would give its troops the mobile firepower to drive out Russian troops in decisive battles.

After big Ukrainian gains in the second half of 2022, the frontlines have largely been frozen in place over the past two months, with neither side making big gains despite heavy casualties in intense trench warfare.

New military aid

Meanwhile, a group of 11 NATO countries, including Britain and Poland, on Thursday pledged a raft of new military aid to support Ukraine. "The West must stay united and continue to support Ukraine with military aid. What Ukraine needs most is heavy weaponry. The hardest battles are still ahead," Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told a news conference in his home country, held jointly with his British counterpart and other officials.

Gathering at a military base, the officials pledged missiles, stinger air defense systems, anti-aircraft guns, machine guns, training, and other equipment and services.

Britain, which has already announced plans to send tanks to Ukraine, will also send 600 Brimstone missiles, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said as he outlined details.

Poland was sending S-60 anti-aircraft guns with 70,000 rounds of ammunition and said was ready to donate a company of Leopard 2 tanks, "pending (a) wider coalition" of Leopard donors, according to a joint statement from the meeting.

Hours after the meeting, the Danish government announced it would donate 19 French-made Caesar howitzer artillery systems to Ukraine, fulfilling the wish of Zelenskyy but stunting the Nordic country's military build-up.