The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, believes that the partners should hand over Western-style battle tanks to Ukraine if it requests them.

Von der Leyen made such a statement on Tuesday at a joint briefing with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the head of the European Council Charles Michel.

"I have said many times since the full-scale the Russian invasion of Ukraine: I think that Ukraine should get all the necessary military equipment they need and they can handle to defend the homeland. This means of course, advanced air defence systems, but also other types of advanced military equipment, as long as it is necessary to defend Ukraine," said von der Leyen, answering questions about her position on Western-style tanks for Ukraine.

The head of the European Council, Charles Michel, for his part, said that he supports providing Ukraine with more weapons, without naming them.

"There's an aggressor: the Kremlin. And a victim: the Ukrainian people. I am glad that in the last weeks and months after the start of the war, the member states were able to send more and more military equipment to Ukraine, as Ursula said, I fully support this approach. The European Council has repeatedly called for greater military support for Ukraine in order to guarantee its ability to defend itself. We know that they are fighting for their future but also for our common values," the head of the European Council noted.

The European Union and NATO have signed the third Joint Declaration on Cooperation since previous declarations were signed in 2016 and 2018.