German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who is in Kiev this Tuesday for a surprise visit, confirmed that a coalition of European countries will send more than 100 Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine.
The shipment will be “in stages” and Kiev will receive at least 20 or 25 copies until the summer, Pistorius said in the Ukrainian capital, arriving today without announcing his trip to the press.
By the end of this year, it is planned to deliver at least 80 Leopard 1 tanks to Kiev and by the first or second quarter of 2024, the Allies plan to deliver another 80 tanks, enough to arm three battalions . Minister of German.
Pistorius also indicated that the training of 600 Ukrainian officers in the use of these armored vehicles has already begun.
Nächste konkrete Schritte für unsere Unterstützung: Verteidigungsminister Pistorius sprach heute in der #Ukraine ua with President @ZelenskyyUa and seinem Amtskollegen @oleksiireznikov. And the März die #Kampfpanzer #leopard 2 A6 of the Verfügung. pic.twitter.com/mAbgiza4Sp
– Ministry of Defense (@BMVg_Bundeswehr) February 7, 2023
The Social Democratic minister emphasized his joy at finally reaching an agreement to supply tanks to Ukraine in a coordinated manner, but he did not name the countries with which he reached such an agreement.
But soon after, in a joint statement, the defense ministers of Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark announced that Ukraine “will receive at least 100 Leopard 1 A5 tanks (…) in the coming months”.
These Leopard 1 armored vehicles, older than the Leopard 2 – the delivery of 14 examples of which the army donated to Ukraine was also promised by Berlin shortly – come from industrial ‘stocks’ and will be refurbished.
The German magazine Der Spiegel reported this afternoon that the German government has authorized the shipment of 178 Leopard 1 tanks by arms manufacturing companies to Ukraine.
The first tanks, owned by the arms industry, should start shipping from June, though most will have to wait until 2024 as they undergo overhauls and repairs, the magazine said.
According to Der Spiegel, 90 of the Leopard 1s belong to the FFG company, which has had them in its warehouses for several years, and the other 88 belong to the Rheinmetal group, which bought them from the Italian army.
About two weeks ago, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, announced the shipment of 14 Leopard 2s from German army stockpiles, which should be available to the Ukrainian army by the end of March.
Pistorius’s visit, his first visit to Kiev since taking over the defense portfolio last month, comes as Ukraine pressures Western countries to speed up delivery of the promised heavy artillery.
“The ‘first’ Leopard 2 arrived in Kiev. Others will follow,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiï Reznikov joked on the social network Twitter, posting a photo in the company of Pistorius, holding a miniature of that German tank model .
BREAKING: The «first» Leopard 2 has arrived in Kiev
There will be more.✊
thanks to @Bundeskanzler my colleague Boris Pistorius and the German people.
The tank coalition marches…to victory! pic.twitter.com/4VY2YaovBi– Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) February 7, 2023
Ukraine has indicated that it will receive between 120 and 140 Western tanks, namely German-made Leopard 2, British Challenger 2 and American Abrams.
However, the delivery schedule is unclear and Kiev is concerned that it will not receive the tanks in time to repel a possible new large-scale Russian offensive.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has so far led to the flight of more than 14 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than eight million to European countries – according to the most recent data from the UN. which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
Currently, 17.7 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid and 9.3 million need food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russian security – was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and Russia political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented as confirmed since the start of the war, which today entered its 349th day, 7,155 civilians killed and 11,662 wounded, underlining that these numbers are well below the real ones.
Source: DN
