German soldiers assigned to the 3rd Panzer Battalion operate a Leopard 2A6 tank on the Precision Driving lane during the Strong Europe Tank Challenge, June 7, 2018. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Rolyn Kropf)
PARIS — Germany has given Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the birthday present of his dreams: Fourteen Leopard 2A6 tanks, with more almost certainly to follow.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced today the initial batch will be taken out of the Bundeswehr’s inventory of 320 for Ukraine, and Berlin has also given permission to other countries that own Leopard tanks to send theirs as well.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he thought the first tanks could be delivered in about three months. A second battalion could then be formed from older Leopard tanks but this would take “a little longer,” he said. Experts previously told Breaking Defense that some Ukrainians could be combat trained on the tanks in as little as six weeks, though officers and maintenance specialists would take longer. Pistorius said training of Ukrainian crews in Germany would begin soon. Logistics, ammunition and maintenance are included in the deal.
Pistorius told German television that the decision to supply the tanks was “historical because is is done in an internationally coordinated fashion and because it takes place in a highly explosive situation in Ukraine.” He added the decision “is an important game-changer, possibly in this war or in this phase of war.”
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Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defense minister, tweeted his thanks: “Leopards look good on Ukraine! Thank you very much to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, my colleague Boris Pistorius, German people and everyone who supported us!”
German government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said the decision came in the wake of “intensive consultations that took place with Germany’s closest European and international partners.”
The announcement came amid increasing pressure from Ukraine and German allies, who were eager to give Kyiv the vehicles. The Leopard is used by nearly three dozen friendly nations, mostly in Europe, and about 10 of them, including Finland, have said they were willing to send Leopards to Ukraine. Because it produces the tank, Germany holds control over re-exports. Poland had formally asked Germany on Tuesday for permission to send some of its Leopard 2 tanks.
Commentators have said that Berlin did not want to be seen as the only capital to send heavy tanks to Ukraine and that Scholz’s decision to go-ahead was influenced by widespread reports Tuesday that the US was finalizing plans to send M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. No official announcement from Washington has been made but could happen later today.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the news of German tanks and the potential for American Abrams as well, saying it was a “rather disastrous plan.”
“The main thing is, this is a completely obvious overestimation of the potential [the tanks] would add to the armed forces of Ukraine. It is yet another fallacy, a rather profound one,” he said, according to The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Norway is considering transferring up to eight of its 36 Leopard tanks to Ukraine, according to Norwegian publication Dagens Næringsliv.
France has no Leopard tanks. It has its own Leclerc main battle tanks and, although there is no political obstacle to sending some of these to Ukraine, it is unlikely to happen notably because the support and maintenance of the two types of tank are very different.
“A gift of Leclercs could end up as a poisoned chalice,” a senior French official said, explaining that the Caesar truck-mounted guns France sent to Kiev are being maintained by companies that usually maintain agricultural machinery but that the Leclercs are too complex for such a solution.
Zelensky turns 45 today.
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