WSJ: Finland to start supplying tanks to Ukraine after joining NATO

Finland plans to transfer its tanks to Ukraine only after joining NATO. The country does not really want to detail its military aid because of the more than 1,300-kilometer border with Russia.

This is reported by The Wall Street Journal with reference to sources.

The representative of NATO said that Finland made it clear that it will most likely not make direct supplies of tanks to Ukraine before the official entry into the Alliance. Turkey is currently blocking its entry together with Sweden.

According to him, even after joining NATO, Finland, which has approximately 240 tanks, will be able to provide only a few units.

• At the end of January, Germany officially agreed to transfer Leopard tanks to Ukraine and gave permission to other countries to do so. After that, it became known that European countries were preparing to transfer 80 Leopard tanks to Ukraine. This is enough to form two tank battalions. One battalion will be assembled from tanks provided by 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.
• On February 3, the German government approved the plans of the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall to sell 88 old Leopard 1 tanks to Kyiv. Later, they also gave permission to another company to supply 90 such tanks.