The government of North Macedonia will hand over combat tanks to Ukraine. Instead, the country plans to modernize its army according to NATO standards.
This is reported by Reuters with reference to the Ministry of Defense of the country.
The ministry said that it will transfer to Ukraine the tanks that belonged to the battalion, which is in the process of being modernized.
"Taking into account this situation and the requirements of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the government decided to transfer a certain number of these [tank] capacities to Ukraine free of charge in accordance with its needs," the Ministry of Defense explained.
Macedonian side doesnʼt say which tanks are being transferred, but they note that these are the so-called third generation tanks that were manufactured in the 1970s and 1980s.
According to open data, North Macedonia is armed with only one type of tank — the Soviet T-72. There are 31 of them — exactly as many as a typical tank battalion has. They do not say exactly how many of these tanks, or even all of them, will be transferred to Ukraine.
The local publication 360stepeni also appealed to the Ministry of Defense after videos of the transportation of tanks appeared on social networks. They explained that in a few years these tanks will become ineffective due to the development of technologies, and the country will also have to spend money on their disposal. Therefore, North Macedonia sent a request to NATO allies with a request for supplies of modern weapons, including various anti-tank weapons, as well as lightly armored vehicles.