German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Tuesday that Ukraine’s allied countries with Leopard heavy tanks could start training Ukrainian troops in their use, although Germany has not yet given its approval for their delivery to Kyiv.
“I expressly encouraged partner countries that have Leopard tanks ready for deployment to train Ukrainian forces on these tanks,” the minister said during a Berlin news conference with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.
Poland wants to speed up
At the same time, the Polish Defense Minister mentioned on Twitter the delivery of 14 Leopard 2 tanks by Poland, urgently requested by Ukraine, but which Warsaw was unable to deliver at the moment due to lack of German approval.
“Germany has already received our request to accept the transfer of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine,” wrote Mariusz Błaszczak. He also urged Germany to join “the coalition of countries supporting Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks.”
However, after days of procrastination, the Polish executive now says it is ready to take action without authorization from Berlin.
“We are going to ask for such an agreement but it is a secondary issue,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki launched on Monday. “Even if we don’t get their agreement (from the Germans), we will deliver our tanks to Ukraine as part of a small coalition,” even “if Germany is not part of it,” he added.
Source: BFM TV
