"\nRussia fears that Ukraine could be planning to launch strikes on Russian soil anytime soon according to local Moscow media reports on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOn Friday, reports emerged that another likely Pantsir-S1 system had been spotted 10 kilometers from President Vladimir Putin\u2019s official residence in Novo-Ogaryovo outside Moscow this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPantsir-S1 is an air defense system designed to protect against a variety of weapons including aircraft and ballistic and cruise missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThey follow sightings of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems at a national park and a testing ground in north and northeastern Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSecurity analyst Michael Horowitz said on Twitter that Russia could be concerned about \"Ukrainian attacks against Moscow\" or wanted to play up the threat of Ukrainian attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAnti-aircraft missile systems have been spotted across Moscow this week amid concerns over Ukraine\u2019s ability to strike deep within Russian territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\nVideos and photos circulating online Thursday showed what appeared to be a Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air system being installed on top of an administrative building and the Defense Ministry headquarters in central Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\nUkraine is repeatedly begging its western allies for more weapons to amass enough fire power and push out the invading Russian troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSweden is sending the world\u2019s best howitzer.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPoland, one of Ukraine\u2019s most outspoken supporters, is sending S-60 anti-aircraft cannon \u2013 a mostly obsolete World War II era weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDespite the flow of weaponry into Ukraine, two key categories of arms that have been top priority asks from the Ukrainian government since early days of the Russian invasion are still practically absent: long-range missiles and the NATO-standard, German made, Leopard 2 main battle tanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWithout these weapons, Kyiv officials have said repeatedly that Ukraine\u2019s chances of conducting swift offenses to eject Russian troops from its territory will be slowed down; worse, at risk of suffering higher casualties.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThere are more than 1,600 Leopard 2 tanks in European army inventories. Some operators, led by Poland and Finland, have been outspoken about their willingness to hand over the diesel-powered tanks to help Ukraine fight off Russia\u2019s troops from its own soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe current obstacle is Berlin, which holds an effective veto on transfers of Leopards to third party nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFurthermore, Germany\u2019s government, led by the left-leaning SPD, has dragged its feet since the war\u2019s outset on sending Ukraine any weapons that might be construed as usable in an offensive capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn short according to the SPD, sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine is \u201ccomplicated\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPresident Volodymyr Zelensky was caustic in comments on the Leopard 2 saga to Germany\u2019s ARD television broadcaster on Jan. 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cListen guys, you [Germany\u2019s political leadership] are adults, of course you\u2019ve been saying for the last half year, you\u2019re \u2018checking the influence\u2019 [of sending tanks to Ukraine], but every day [Ukrainian] people are dying,\u201d Zelensky said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cIf the possibility exists, well, then transfer them. Transfer them. We\u2019re not attacking. If someone is worried, Leopards wouldn\u2019t go into the territory of the Russian Federation (RF). We\u2019re defending ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nGermany\u2019s new Defense Minister Boris Pretorius (an SPD appointee) in afternoon comments at the Ramstein Conference delivered Berlin\u2019s latest rejection, saying that members of the Ukraine support coalition meeting to discuss military aid to Ukraine were \u201cin disagreement\u201d on whether the time is right to ship the Munich-manufactured Leopard 2 to Kyiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe upshot is that no German tanks will be sent to Ukraine for the time being. This has left the AFU armed, as it has been in the past, with several hundred Soviet-era tanks inferior to Russia\u2019s tank fleet which number in the thousands.<\/p>\n"