On Tuesday, Poland said that it would send 10 Leopard tanks to Ukraine this week, delivering more of the vehicles that Kyiv says are critical to opposing Russia’s invasion. Poland had vowed to ship a total of 14 German-made Leopard 2 heavy tanks to Kyiv, with the first four already supplied in late February, on the first anniversary of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
Before flying to Stockholm for a meeting of EU defense ministers, the defense minister of Poland Mariusz Blaszczak told reporters in Warsaw that Poland will deliver 10 Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine. He added that Poland would set up a service hub for the battle tanks used in Ukraine. Polish minister that he would raise the issue in his talks with the German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
We are ready to launch a service hub in Poland that will repair and service the Leopard tanks delivered to Ukraine. The fundamental issue that we will discuss is the low availability of spare parts for Leopard tanks.
I expect of minister Boris Pistorius that he influences the German industry so that the spare parts to the Leopards are delivered.”
Blaszczak added
Poland was spearheading struggles to ship the modern Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, with Germany initially opposing the tension from supporters to permit the move.
Early this year, Berlin decided to send its own Leopards and greenlighted the deliveries from other countries which included Poland, Sweden, Finland, and Portugal.
