Germany plans to give Poland permission to re-export Leopard tanks to Ukraine. The decision is expected to be made on Wednesday.
Bloomberg writes about this with reference to its own sources.
They note that in Berlin they want to resolve this issue very quickly in order to reassure the allies, among whom doubts and mistrust of Germany as a reliable partner began to appear.
At the same time, a high-ranking Ukrainian official told ABC News that 12 countries are ready to transfer Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Together they can send about 100 tanks. In addition to Poland and Finland, we are also talking about the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark and other countries.
- On January 20, the eighth meeting of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine was held at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the Western allies at the Ramstein-style meeting have not yet reached an agreement on providing Ukraine with Leopard 2 main battle tanks. According to him, Germany does not block this decision.
- At the same time, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksiy Reznikov, announced that the Ukrainian military would already begin training to operate Leopard tanks. This means that as soon as a political decision on deliveries is made, the Ukrainian army will be able to use these tanks immediately.
- White House spokesman for national security and defense, John Kirby, said that Germany is going through "its own process" on the issue of providing Leopard tanks to Ukraine. According to him, the United States does not put pressure on the Germans.
- According to Business Insider, former German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, before her resignation, banned the Bundeswehrʼs inventory of tanks in order to delay the governmentʼs response to the supply of Leopard tanks to Ukraine.