Germany supplies four more Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks from Bundeswehr stocks to Ukraine. “Germany is thus increasing the number of tanks from 14 to 18,” the defense ministry in Berlin said on Friday. Poland had previously delivered the first four Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine. Sweden also wants to deliver up to ten Leopard 2 tanks to Kiev.
“I came here today not only with words of support, but also with the knowledge that it is necessary to respond with violence to this barbaric aggression,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in Kiev on Friday after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. More Leopard main battle tanks would soon follow, Morawiecki said.
Morawiecki in Kyiv
On the first anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine, the Polish Prime Minister traveled to the capital of the embattled neighboring country, where he laid flowers at the memorial wall for those who died in the war and where he also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said at a meeting of the National Security Council in Warsaw that Ukrainian soldiers are currently being trained by Polish, Canadian and Norwegian instructors at the Leopard training center in Swietoszow.
“Cooperation between Poland and Germany plays an important role”
Poland’s cooperation with Germany played an important role in the campaign, Blaszczak said. Both countries want to hand over 14 Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine. Before that was certain, Poland had put considerable pressure on Germany in the discussion about the supplies. On January 11, President Andrzej Duda announced in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv that his country had decided to equip the Ukrainians with Leopard main battle tanks.
A little later, the Polish government submitted a corresponding export request to the German federal government, which had to agree to the transfer of the German tanks. Morawiecki said in Kiev that Poland is also ready to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets if a coalition is found to hand over the aircraft. Ukraine demands delivery of F-16 fighter jets from Western allies.
Sweden also wants to supply tanks
Sweden also wants to deliver up to ten Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. This must be done in close cooperation with Germany, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in Boden on Friday. The Scandinavians also want to supply Ukraine with parts of the Hawk and Iris-T air defense systems.
Source: Krone
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