The three Leopard 02 A6 tanks that Portugal has made available to Ukraine are already in Germany ready to travel to Ukrainian territory by the end of the month, the Defense Minister announced on Wednesday.
“I can inform you right away that the three Leopard 02 A6 tanks we gave to Ukraine are already in Germany and in good operational condition, they are being modified and then they will be delivered together with the 18 German tanks by the end. of the month”insisted Helena Carreiras.
The minister spoke shortly before the start of an informal meeting of the defense ministers of the European Union (EU), organized by the Swedish presidency of the EU Council, in Stockholm.
Helena Carreiras added that today’s meeting will “focus a lot on supporting Ukraine”.
“We will review the conditions on the ground and discuss how we can support Ukraine better and faster, especially with regard to ammunition supply.”
Shortly before Portugal’s defense minister spoke to journalists, its Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiï Reznikov, invited to participate in the meeting, asked for one million large caliber ammunition, with an installment distribution of “90,000 to 100,000 per month”.
The Ukrainian official’s request was backed by Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur, who added that the supply of one million rounds of ammunition would cost around €4 billion.
When asked about these statements, the defense minister asked for caution.
“Let’s wait, see a little bit of what’s being thought and discussed […]also involves our national industry and we agree, as we said, with the principles of this type of support, which is the European Peace Support Mechanism, a fund that is available to support this type of joint acquisition,” he said.
The European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs went further, rejecting Estonia’s request for a €4 billion ammunition purchase package for Ukraine and calling for pragmatism from member states.
“Money doesn’t fall from the sky and it’s not because a member state says we need more money that money will appear miraculously. We have the resources we have and the first thing we need to do is use them” , maintained the head of European diplomacy. “If we can give more, we will be happy […]let’s not talk about infinity,” said Josep Borrell.
On the news that could overshadow the meeting, the possibility that the sabotage of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, last September, was carried out by a pro-Ukrainian organization, Helena Carreiras preferred not to comment for now.
Source: DN
