Now official: – Germany supplies 14 Leopard tanks to Ukraine

“The decision follows our familiar line of supporting Ukraine as best we can. We act internationally in a closely coordinated manner,” Scholz said in a statement. The aim is to quickly assemble two tank battalions with Leopard 2 tanks, the government spokesman said. As a first step, Germany will provide a company with 14 Leopard 2 A6s. Ukrainian soldiers must be trained quickly on the tanks in Germany The package also included ammunition, logistics and maintenance of the systems.

In addition, the federal government will allow partner countries to supply their own Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Poland submitted a corresponding application on Tuesday.

Will Washington send Abrams tanks?
According to information from Reuters and Spiegel, the decision was made in the Chancellery on Tuesday evening. The decisive building block for this was that Washington, according to insider information, said the US would also send 30 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine. Scholz had previously pushed for transatlantic harmony in main battle tank supplies, but also faced criticism from the traffic signal government for taking too long to make a decision. The US government had initially rejected a supply from Abrams.

Russia warned that supplying Western main battle tanks would escalate the war. The United States’ delivery of main battle tanks would be “another blatant provocation,” Russian U.S. Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said Wednesday. “It is clear that Washington is deliberately trying to inflict strategic defeat on us,” he added on Telegram. “If the United States decides to supply tanks, then you absolutely cannot justify such a move with the ‘defensive weapons’ argument.”