Germany has encouraged countries that intend to supply Ukraine with Leopard tanks to start training the Ukrainian military that will operate them, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced on Tuesday.
“I expressly encourage partner countries that have Leopard tanks ready for deployment to train Ukrainian forces on these tanks,” Pistorius said at a news conference in Berlin with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Poland announced on Tuesday that it has sent a formal request to Germany to supply its Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
The Warsaw government has already formally asked Germany to supply Polish Leopard tanks to Ukraine, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak revealed on Tuesday.
Ukraine has long called for German-made Leopard tanks to be delivered to fight Russian troops, but the government in Berlin has yet to decide whether to supply them.
Poland has said it is ready to supply the Leopard tanks but lacks authorization from Germany, whose diplomat chief Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday that Berlin would not object to such a request.
“We are not an obstacle,” Pistorius said Tuesday at the end of a meeting with Stoltenberg, quoted by the German magazine Der Spiegel.
Pistorius also said that the German government should soon make a decision on the delivery of tanks to Berlin.
Source: TSF
