Western allies on Friday dampened Ukraine’s hopes for a rapid shipment of battle tanks to boost its firepower for a spring offensive against Russian forces, with the United States urging Kyiv to hold off from mounting such an operation.

The senior-most U.S. general, speaking after a meeting of the allies at Ramstein Air Base, also said it would be very hard for Ukraine to drive Russia’s invading forces from the country this year.

The run-up to the Ramstein meeting had been dominated by the issue of whether Germany would agree to send Leopard 2 tanks, or permit other countries which have them, to Ukraine.

In the end, no decision on supplying Leopards was reached, officials said, although pledges for large amounts of other weapons including air defence systems and some other model of tanks, were given.

The United States was also holding fast to its decision not to provide Abrams tanks to Ukraine yet, a senior U.S. official said in Washington. It wanted to see the latest supply of U.S. weaponry in place and training provided, the official said.

In Ramstein, U.S. General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news conference: “From a military standpoint, I still maintain that for this year, it would be very, very difficult to militarily eject the Russian forces from every inch of Russian-occupied Ukraine.”

The developments were likely to come as a disappointment to Ukraine as the war unleashed by a Russian invasion last February grinds on with no solution nor let-up in the suffering in sight. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had specifically requested more tanks.

The German-built Leopards are seen as especially suitable for Ukraine as they are widely in use, meaning several countries could each chip in some of their tanks to support Ukraine. They would give Ukraine an edge as it switched from defensive to offensive operations.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking earlier in the day, urged allies to dig deeper to support Ukraine, without making specific reference to tanks.

“Russia is regrouping, recruiting, and trying to re-equip,” he said at the start of the meeting. “This is not a moment to slow down. It’s a time to dig deeper. The Ukrainian people are watching us,” he said.

The Kremlin said supplying tanks to Ukraine would not help and the West would regret its “delusion” that Kyiv could win on the battlefield.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters Ukraine’s backers needed to focus not only on sending new weapons, but supplying ammunition for older systems and helping maintain them.

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