For weeks, Slovakia has not allowed weapons from Ukraine that were supposed to be repaired there.
Business Insider writes about this with reference to sources in the German government.
In mid-December, Kraus-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) established a repair center near the Slovak town of Michalovce on the border with Ukraine on behalf of the German Armed Forces to restore the operation of broken artillery pieces, Gepard anti-aircraft guns or M270 multiple rocket launchers.
According to the publication, there are 15 malfunctioning howitzers on the border. The German Ministry of Defense occasionally transports weapons through neighboring EU countries, which means not only hundreds of kilometers of detours, but also, above all, a significant loss of time for repairs. MARS launchers and Gepard anti-aircraft guns will also be partially repaired in Germany.
It is not yet clear why Slovakia is reacting in this way, despite the relevant government agreement. The German side admits that some legal issues related to the repair center were overlooked because of the speed with which the deal was concluded late last year.
The publication writes that even Chancellor Olaf Scholz had to intervene in the situation. In a telephone conversation last week, Acting Prime Minister of Slovakia Eduard Geger assured Scholz that the problem would be solved quickly.
- In November 2022, Germany announced that it would establish a maintenance center in Slovakia to maintain and repair the military equipment and weapons it transferred to Ukraine. The center will repair light weapons, Panzerhaubitze 2000 artillery systems, MLRS, etc. Currently, part of the Ukrainian Panzerhaubitze 2000 is being repaired in Lithuania.