A German Army Leopard II tank, assigned to 104th Panzer Battalion|U.S. Army Europe|Public Domain

Berlin will veto the European nations’ decision to send German-made Leopard tanks to support Ukraine unless the US agrees to send American-made Abram tanks, said senior German officials on Wednesday.

However, defense officials at the Pentagon believe Abrams tanks to be highly complicated, expensive and hard to train on. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is in Berlin to meet with the newly-appointed German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, to discuss the issue in depth.

There are over 2,000 German-made Leopard tanks with NATO and its allies. Many, including Poland, Finland and Denmark are ready to send them to Ukraine if Germany agrees.