Germany to give Poland approval on Wed to send tanks to Ukraine – media

19:09, 24.01.2023 1 min read

The German government is expected to give Poland approval as soon as Wednesday to re-export its German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Polish government has sent an official request to Germany on Tuesday. Warsaw has no right to send Germany-made Leopard 2 tanks to a third party without Berlin's permission.

Earlier, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Germany would not stand in the way if Poland decides to send the tanks to Ukraine.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that Germany's partners, who have Leopard 2 tanks, can already start to train Ukrainian servicemen on these tanks even though Berlin has not approved their supplies to Ukraine.

Leopard 2 is the main battle tank of the Bundeswehr. It is also in service with Austria, Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark, Greece, and Finland. It has been in operation since 1979, it has many modifications, and more than 3,600 units of this tank were produced in total.