The Netherlands has 18 leased tanks to donate to Ukraine
Germany authorizes Poland and other countries to supply Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The German government officially announced on Wednesday that the country is shipping Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The Federal Republic continues to agree to the supply of those tanks to Ukraine by other countries.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz told his ministers on Wednesday that fourteen German Leopard 2A6 tanks are “rolling to the Ukrainian front” soon. He first coordinated this with allies. According to Scholz, two tank units are being formed together with the allies. It would be a total of almost thirty Leopards
The Leopard 2A6 tank weighs over 60 tons and is one of the most modern versions of the Leopards. Scholz hesitated for a long time and did not want to supply very expensive offensive weapons to Ukraine, partly because this would be unpopular according to German opinion polls. He will explain his policy at 13:00 in the Bundestag.
The decision is preceded by days of talks between Germany and its military partners. It is still unclear whether the Netherlands will also supply tanks.
The cabinet is prepared to consider supplying modern Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine. “The decision has not yet been taken, but we certainly do not rule it out,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Netherlands has no tanks, but leases eighteen Leopard 2 tanks from Germany. According to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine, the Netherlands would have offered these eighteen tanks during the talks with Germany. “We leased them, which means that we can buy them and we can donate them,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in an interview with the newspaper on Tuesday.
Poland asked Germany on Monday to supply German-made Leopard-2 tanks to Ukraine. In addition to Poland, Finland and Portugal will also supply these types of tanks to the government in Kiev.
The tanks have been made or modernized in German arms factories since 1979. Foreign buyers are obliged to first obtain permission from Berlin if they wish to resell or supply the tanks to third parties.
Default President Volodimir Zelensky has been asking for months for the weaponry and the entire German government to thwart it. Zelensky thinks that the modern assault weapon can break through the fairly jammed front. But the tank may only make a difference at the front if very many of them are delivered, military experts say.
The Netherlands is the leader in material deliveries to Kiev
The Netherlands is one of the frontrunners in supplying military equipment to Kiev. Last week, the cabinet announced that it would send two launchers and a number of Patriot missiles to Ukraine. That events in cooperation with Germany and the United States. Ukraine needs the anti-aircraft system to defend against Russian missile and drone attacks.
The cabinet already distributes indirect tanks. Together with the Americans and the Czechs, it financed the delivery of ninety modernized Russian T-72 tanks last year. They were originally intended for Morocco. The Hague and Washington each have 45 million euros for this.