The German side has no information of its own about the destruction of Leopard tanks during military operations in Ukraine.
A representative of the German Ministry of Defense Mitko Müller informed this at a briefing, "Ukrinform" reports.
"I donʼt have my own data. And I will not evaluate Russian statements," the officer emphasized. He also did not comment on the Russiansʼ claims about the alleged damage to the radar of the German IRIS-T air defense system.
Müller reminded that since the beginning of the war, Germany has provided a lot of support to Ukraine — with materials, military equipment, as well as training of soldiers of Ukrainian Armed Forces.
- Last week, on June 6, the Russian Ministry of Defense published a video of the destruction of Ukrainian agricultural machinery, mistaking it for Leopard tanks. Large wheels with light-colored rims were clearly visible in the footage. Most likely, the Russians destroyed John Deere combines.
- The Russians later claimed to have destroyed 28 tanks during the day, including eight Leopards, three AMX-10 wheeled light tanks and 109 armored fighting vehicles. They did not provide any confirmation of this, but on June 8, videos and photos of destroyed Ukrainian equipment during the assault on Zaporizhzhia appeared on social networks. The OSINT community, including the Ukrainian one, confirmed the destruction of at least one Leopard 2A4 and the damage of five M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. M113 and MaxxPro armored vehicles were also destroyed or damaged in the footage.
- The Russians also released video of a Lancet kamikaze drone hitting the IRIS-T radar, but the choppy video led OSINT investigators to assume damage to the radar rather than its destruction.
- Already on June 10 and 11, new photos from the front in the Zaporizhzhia region with destroyed or damaged Ukrainian equipment began to appear on social networks. The same OSINT investigators counted as lost two Leopard 2A6 tanks, two Bradleys, a Bergepanzer repair vehicle, several MaxxPros and three Leopard 2R anti-mine vehicles, which are designed to "move" minefields.