Germany and Portugal will deliver 21 Leopard tanks to Ukraine before the end of March, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced in Stockholm on Wednesday.
“I can inform you that I have just been informed that the 18 German Leopard 2A6s and three Portuguese will be transferred to Ukraine before the end of the month,” Pistorius said on the sidelines of the informal meeting of European Union defense ministers. (EU).
The tanks will be delivered “together with their crew, who are trained so that they can be deployed in combat zones,” he added, quoted by the Spanish agency EFE.
Pistorius confirmed the information about the deployment of tanks that had already been given at the entrance of the meeting by the Portuguese Defense Minister, Helena Carreiras.
The German minister also said that Germany is one of the countries doing the most to train Ukrainian troops in the use of modern weapons.
He said 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers will have been trained before the end of the year.
Germany has promised to deliver about 60 modern tanks to Kiev as part of a coalition with countries including Portugal, Spain, Norway, Canada and Poland.
Poland was the first country in the group to send Leopard tanks, with four units delivered on February 24, the first anniversary of Russia’s war with Ukraine.
The Polish government has announced that it will send ten more tanks later this week.
Supplying weapons and training soldiers is one form of support for Kiev by its Western allies, in addition to imposing sanctions on Russia.
EU defense ministers, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Rezhnikov are today discussing how to increase ammunition production to supply Kiev.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is also taking part in today’s meeting in the Swedish capital.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine plunged Europe into what is considered the worst security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
The number of civilian and military casualties is unknown, but several sources, including the UN, admit it will be high.
Source: DN
