Spiegel: “Tank Coalition” from European countries is preparing to transfer 80 Leopard tanks to Ukraine

European countries within the coalition are preparing to transfer 80 German Leopard tanks to Ukraine. This is enough to form two tank battalions.

Spiegel writes about this with reference to its own sources.

Countries want to transfer tanks to Ukraine as soon as possible. In each of the battalions, 40 Leopard tanks are planned. Another battalion will help form the USA with their Abrams tanks.

It is planned that one battalion will be assembled from tanks from Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Finland. These will be Leopard 2A6 versions. The second battalion will be supplied with tanks from Poland and Norway version 2A4. The third battalion will consist of Abrams tanks.

The U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are expected to hold a phone call on Wednesday to discuss the way forward.

The tanks themselves are planned to be handed over by the end of March. It is expected that the training of the Ukrainian military will begin in the near future and will last 6-8 weeks.

• On January 25, Germany officially agreed to transfer Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. It also issued permission for re-export to other countries that have such tanks in service.