The Netherlands and Denmark changed their minds about Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine

The Netherlands and Denmark have informed that they will not supply Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

The German newspaper Die Welt writes about this with reference to the response to a request in European capitals.

The Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte stated earlier that his country can provide 18 Leopard 2 leased from Germany. However, these tanks are not available to Ukraine, "the decision was made during close consultations between the Netherlands and Germany."

When asked by Die Welt, Danish government circles also stated that the country, which owns 44 Leopard 2A7 tanks, will not participate in the tank alliance.

The compensation of the Netherlands and Denmark for changing their decision is a financial contribution to the repair of 100 Leopard 1 tanks in industrial warehouses in Germany. The countries themselves do not have any of these old tanks.

Finland, which has an arsenal of 200 Leopard 2 tanks, has long been considered an important part of the coalition. However, there are now signs that the country does not want to supply tanks until it joins NATO. The same applies to Sweden. Stockholm is also refusing to supply the Leopard until it joins the North Atlantic Alliance.

• Back on February 14, at a meeting of Ramstein, the U.S. Defense Minister Lloyd Austin stated that eight countries would supply Ukraine with Leopard tanks. These are Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands. The USA, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands will jointly provide more than 90 T-72 tanks, and Great Britain Challenger 2 tanks. Ukraine will also receive air defense systems: the USA, Germany and the Netherlands will provide Patriot systems, France and Italy — SAMP/T.