Ukraine to receive no more than 50 Leopards tanks promised by West by April, newspaper claims
German tank Leopard 2 (Photo:synaxonag/Wikipedia)
Less than quarter of the modern Leopard main battle tanks pledged by the West will arrive in Ukraine before the anticipated Russian spring offensive campaign, UK newspaper the Sunday Times wrote on Feb. 19.
The newspaper wrote that barely 50 tanks would have been be sent to Ukraine by the beginning of April, giving cause for concern as this will not be enough to make any significant effect on the front line.
About 320 modern western tanks have been promised to Kyiv by Ukraine’s partner nations, the Sunday Times wrote.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that during the Munich Security Conference, which ends on Feb. 19, that he would try to get his European partners to deliver 80 of the pledged tanks to Ukraine as soon as possible.
On Jan. 25, after much hesitation, Germany approved the transfer of 14 Leopard-2 tanks to Ukraine, as well as their re-export from partner countries. On the same day, the U.S. announced the delivery of 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the first tanks could be sent to Ukraine by the end of March.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that Ukraine would receive 120-140 modern Western tanks in the first wave of deliveries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine needs 300-500 tanks to launch a counter-offensive to liberate more Ukrainian territory from Russian occupation.
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