German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Monday that Berlin won’t be able to replace every German-made Leopard tank that Ukrainian forces lose in their fight against Russia.

His comments come amid reports that Leopards have been destroyed in Ukraine’s counteroffensive. On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that it captured several Leopards and US-made Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

According to AFP, Pistorius refused to authenticate images circulating online that show damaged Leopard tanks in Ukraine. Appearing to confirm that Ukraine is losing a lot of armored vehicles, Andrii Melnyk, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, appealed for more Western armor, including the Leopard 2 tank.

“The Ukrainian army desperately needs many more Western battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other armored vehicles,” Melnyk said, according to Ukrainska Pravda. “Each Leopard 2 is literally worth its weight in gold for a decisive offensive.”

Germany has provided Ukraine with 18 Leopard 2 tanks from its military stockpiles and is also sending refurbished Leopard 1 tanks. But Melnyk thinks Berlin could do more, saying the supply of Leopard 2 tanks from Germany could be “tripled without jeopardizing Germany’s ability to defend itself.”

Pistorius said that Germany “will not be able to replace every tank that is now out of action.” He added that “unfortunately it is the nature of war that weapons are destroyed, that tanks are destroyed and people are killed.”

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Rheinmetall, Germany’s leading arms maker, will open a plant to manufacture tanks and other armored vehicles in Ukraine within the next 12 weeks as the West is looking to boost Ukraine’s weapons industry.

Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger told CNN that the company will also train Ukrainians how to use and maintain the tanks they manufacture at the plant. He said Ukrainians need to learn how to “help themselves” and cannot rely on Europeans and Americans for maintenance.

The German company will operate the factory with Ukroboronprom, a Ukrainian state-owned defense firm. Papperger said the facility will be located in western Ukraine.

Other Western arms companies are looking to establish factories in Ukraine, and Russia has warned that it could target the plants. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia’s security council, warned in June that Russia should respond to Western arms manufacturing in Ukraine with “salvos of Kalibr (cruise missiles) and other Russian pyrotechnic devices.”

Papperger insisted that the Rheinmetall plant would be able to be protected from any Russian attacks. “There are a lot of factories at the moment which are producing military goods [in Ukraine]. It is just another one — and we can protect that also,” he said.

The war in Ukraine has been a boon for Rheinmetall and other Western arms makers. Papperger said that the focus right now is producing more artillery rounds, and his company is working on ramping up its annual production of shells from 100,000 to 600,000.

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On Tuesday, the German newspaper Bild reported that the German military is blaming Ukraine’s lack of success in its counteroffensive on the tactics of its commanders.

According to a leaked German military report, Berlin’s armed forces think Urkaine’s commanders and battle-hardened troops are not using their Western training. US officials have made similar complaints in comments to the media, saying Ukraine isn’t using “combined arms” tactics, which integrate armor, infantry, and artillery.

The German report said Ukraine was breaking up its NATO-trained bridges into much smaller units. “Some of the troop units are divided up in so many small sections that each troop unit does something, but a joint combat leadership is not recognizable,” the paper said.

While criticizing Ukraine’s tactics, Western officials have also acknowledged that Ukraine did not have enough equipment and training to dislodge Russian troops. Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny has pointed out that NATO would never launch an offensive like Ukraine has without air superiority.

After taking heavy losses in the first few weeks of the counteroffensive, Ukrainian leaders have said their forces changed gears and are working to dismantle vast minefields laid by Russia. The New York Times recently reported that US officials were frustrated by how Ukraine is fighting and would prefer them to stick with Western tactics and press harder to breach the Russian defenses despite the risk of major casualties.

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Germany on Tuesday announced a $1.1 billion weapons package for Ukraine that Berlin said was to help Kyiv get through the winter.

The package includes a US-made Patriot air defense system, two German-made IRIS-T air defense systems, 10 more German Leopard tanks, and other types of equipment.

“With this new ‘winter package,’ we are further enhancing the readiness of the Ukrainian armed forces in the coming months,” said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

The provision of such a large arms package demonstrates that NATO is preparing to support the conflict for another year. In Washington, the White House and hawks in Congress are considering authorizing a giant Ukraine aid package to get through the 2024 election.

After initially being reluctant to go all in on the proxy war, Germany has become one of Ukraine’s top NATO backers, second only to the US. According to the German-based Kiel Institute, Berlin has provided Ukraine with about $18 billion in military aid, compared with about $44.5 billion provided by the US.

In the early days of the conflict, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was opposed to providing Ukraine with tanks and warplanes because he was trying to avoid World War III and nuclear war.

Ukraine has since been armed with dozens of German-made Leopard tanks, and Berlin approved the transfer of Soviet-era MiG-29s from Poland to Ukraine that initially came from Germany’s military.

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Germany is set to permanently station 4,800 troops in Lithuania as part of NATO’s military buildup in Eastern Europe aimed at Russia.

Lithuania shares a border with Kaliningrad, the Russian oblast on the Baltic Sea that’s separated from the Russian mainland. Germany already leads a NATO deployment in Lithuania with 1,000 troops, but an agreement signed on Monday will establish a permanent home for German soldiers.

The new German units will be based in two locations: the town of Rukla, which is 60 miles from the border of Kaliningrad, and near Lithuania’s capital of Vilnius, just 20 miles from Russia’s ally Belarus.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius signed the deal with his Lithuanian counterpart on Monday. “With this war-ready brigade, we are assuming a leadership responsibility here in the alliance and on NATO’s eastern flank,” he said. “The speed of the project clearly shows that Germany understood the new security reality.”

New deployments will begin next year, but the full force will not be established until 2027. Germany plans to send a tank brigade to Lithuania, but one of the armored units that will be part of the deployment sent all of its Leopard tanks to Ukraine, and it’s unclear if they will be replenished by 2027.

Also on Monday, the US signed a deal with NATO’s newest member, Finland, to access 15 bases in the country, including one on the Russian border. Moscow has warned the expansion of NATO infrastructure will lead to an increased Russian military buildup in the region.

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British soldiers are “on the ground” in Ukraine helping Ukrainian forces fire Storm Shadow missiles, according to a leaked recording of a conversation between German military officers that was published by Russian media.

Germany confirmed the authenticity of the recording, and the British did not dispute the claim. The UK confirmed last week that it had a “small number” of troops inside Ukraine who are “supporting the armed forces of Ukraine.”

The UK first started shipping Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine last year, which marked a significant escalation of NATO support since they have a range of 155 miles, further than any other NATO-provided missile. France has also provided Ukraine with a French variant of the Storm Shadow, known as the Scalp missile, but doesn’t have troops helping with targeting on the ground, according to the leaked recording.

In the recording, Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz, the head of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe), described how the British assist Ukraine. “When it comes to mission planning, I know how the English do it, they do it completely in reachback. They also have a few people on the ground, they do that, the French don’t.”

Gerhartz was discussing the possibility of Germany providing Ukraine with Taurus missiles, which would double Ukraine’s strike capabilities as they can hit targets up to 300 miles away. In the conversation, the officers say Taurus missiles could likely be used to blow up the Kerch Bridge, which connects Crimea to the Russian mainland and has been attacked twice by Ukraine.

The Kremlin said that the leaked conversation “makes it clear that plans to carry out strikes inside Russia are under discussion” within the German military.

The leaked recording came after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested British and French troops were inside Ukraine. He made the comments while explaining his reasoning for not supplying Ukraine with the Taurus missiles, saying it would require a German troop presence to match the level of British and French support for Ukraine’s use of the Storm Shadows.

Scholz also said providing that kind of support would make Germany a direct party to the conflict since the Taurus missiles have such a long range and can be used to hit targets deep inside Russia.

The leaked recording also comes after French President Emmanuel Macron stirred an uproar by saying sending NATO troops to Ukraine shouldn’t be ruled out despite the obvious risk of a direct Russia-NATO war, which could quickly turn nuclear. His comments highlighted the fact that the presence of NATO special operations forces inside Ukraine has been an open secret.

Last year, the Discord leaks revealed that as of March 2023, 97 NATO special operations soldiers were inside Ukraine, including 14 Americans, 50 British soldiers, 15 French troops, 17 soldiers from Latvia, and one from the Netherlands.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday reaffirmed his opposition to arming Ukraine with Taurus missiles, which have a range of over 300 miles and could be used to hit targets deep inside Russia.

Scholz said sending Taurus missiles would be “irresponsible” and that it would require the deployment of German troops to Ukraine.

“From my point of view, this is a very long-range weapon,” he told Germany’s parliament. “Given the significance of not losing control over targets, this weapon could not be used without the deployment of German soldiers.”

Other members of Scholz’s government want Germany to supply Ukraine with Taurus missiles, with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock calling for Berlin to “intensively consider” the possibility.

Scholz said the idea was “out of the question,” but he has taken steps to arm Ukraine he previously ruled out throughout the war. The German leader was initially strongly against sending tanks, saying it risked sparking World War III, but he eventually agreed to arm Ukraine with German-made Leopard tanks.

Scholz’s latest comments on the Taurus situation came after Russian media published a leaked recording of German military officers discussing the possibility of the missiles being used to target the Crimean Bridge. The recording also revealed that British troops are “on the ground” in Ukraine helping Ukrainian forces fire Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of about 155 miles.

NATO countries have been more open about the fact that there are a small number of NATO troops inside Ukraine. Last year, the Discord leaks revealed that, as of March 2023, there were 97 NATO special operations soldiers in the country.

Amid growing calls for the US to stop arming Israel, data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has shown that Israel gets 99% of its arms from the US and Germany, The Times of Israel reported on Monday.

The SIPRI report said that from 2019-2023, the “USA accounted for 69% and Germany for 30% of Israeli arms imports.” The report said that imported weapons, particularly combat aircraft received from the US, have “played a major role in Israel’s military actions against Hamas and Hezbollah.”

The US provides Israel with $3.8 billion in annual military aid and ramped up weapons deliveries in the wake of October 7 to support the brutal campaign in Gaza, which has killed over 32,000 Palestinians. The Biden administration approved over 100 arms deals for Israel since October and kept the shipments out of the public eye by keeping them under the threshold needed to notify Congress.

“At the end of 2023, the USA rapidly delivered thousands of guided bombs and missiles to Israel, but the total volume of Israeli arms imports from the USA in 2023 was almost the same as in 2022. By the end of 2023, pending deliveries of major arms to Israel included 61 combat aircraft from the USA and 4 submarines from Germany,” the SIPRI report reads.

Some Democrats in Congress have been urging the Biden administration to halt military assistance to Israel, citing foreign assistance laws that prohibit military aid to countries that block US humanitarian aid deliveries. But there’s no sign yet that President Biden is considering ending support for the slaughter in Gaza.

On Monday, Germany began deploying troops to Lithuania, where they will be stationed permanently, marking the first deployment of its kind for the German military since World War II.

Only two dozen German soldiers have arrived in Lithuania so far, and the force will increase to 4,800 by 2027. Germany already leads a NATO deployment in Lithuania with 1,000 troops, but the new force will be permanent.

“This is the first time that we have permanently stationed such a unit outside of Germany,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said at a farewell ceremony in Berlin, according to The Associated Press. He said the deployment was “an important day for the German army.”

Lithuania shares a border with Kaliningrad, the Russian Oblast on the Baltic Sea that’s separated from the Russian mainland. The country also borders Belarus, a treaty ally of Russia that now hosts Russian nuclear weapons.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas celebrated the German deployment and said it was an example of NATO’s Article V commitment, which outlines mutual defense. “We will create such a defense and deterrence architecture that no adversary from the east will even think about testing NATO’s Article 5,” he said.

Despite only having 15,000 active duty troops in its military, Lithuania has been extremely bellicose toward Russia. In 2022, Lithuania placed an embargo on sanctioned goods traveling to Kaliningrad through its territory by rail, which included basic goods such as concrete, wood, and alcohol. Lithuania quickly lifted the embargo due to pressure from the EU.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Wednesday that he believes Israel will respond to Iran’s drone and missile attack, which was a reprisal for Israel bombing Iran’s consulate in Damascus.

Cameron made the comments while visiting Israel and advising against escalation. “It’s right to have made our views clear about what should happen next, but it’s clear the Israelis are making a decision to act,” he said after meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog. “We hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was also in Israel on Wednesday to warn against a major escalation. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled he would not heed the advice.

“I have just come from meeting with the British and German foreign ministers,” Netanyahu said. “I thank our friends for their support in defense of Israel and I say this — support in both words and deeds. They also have all kinds of suggestions and advice, which I appreciate; however, I would also like to clarify — we will make our decisions ourselves. The state of Israel will do whatever is necessary to defend itself.”

Also on Wednesday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated Tehran’s warning that it would hit Israel much harder if Israel chooses to escalate. “If we had carried out a heavier operation, nothing would be left of Israel. But it was supposed to be a limited action,” Raisi said.

Iran gave the US and Israel plenty of time to prepare for its attack, as Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said Tehran gave 72-hour notice to regional countries. The White House denied that it received direct notice from Iran, but Turkish, Iraqi, and Jordanian officials said they did, which would have gotten back to the US. Iran also announced that it launched missiles and drones hours before they would reach Israel, and the US was able to intercept most of them on its own.

The US is portraying the Iranian attack as an Israeli victory, and President Biden has said the US would not support Israeli offensive action against Iran. But the US has also vowed to continue to defend Israel, which means the US would intervene if there were another escalation and Israeli territory came under attack again.

US officials told NBC News that they believe Israel’s response will be “limited in scope” and would likely target Iranian forces and allies outside of Iran. Israel has been targeting Iranians in Syria for years, but the consulate bombing marked a huge escalation since it targeted a diplomatic facility and killed a high-level Iranian general and six other members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.