Germany to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, and let other European nations do the same

Germany will send Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine and approve re-export of the same kind of tanks from partner countries, according to a statement issued Wednesday. 

“This decision follows our well-known line of supporting Ukraine to the best of our ability. We are acting in a closely coordinated and concerted manner internationally,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Berlin.

Germany said it would initially provide 14 Leopard 2 tanks from its military stocks, with the goal of establishing two battalions. It will also provide ammunition and logistics. It said other European partners would also be permitted to deliver tanks from their stocks, for which they had been awaiting approval from Germany as the manufacturing nation.

The German government said Ukrainian troops would soon begin training on the weapons in Germany.

The United States is also poised to send battle tanks to Ukraine. After months of insisting that its M-1 Abrams were too complex to operate and maintain, the United States is now expected to start sending the top-of-the-line main battle tanks to Ukrainian forces, giving them new battlefield capabilities against dug-in Russian forces.

U.S. officials said it would likely be many months before the American tanks arrive in Ukraine, however, as Ukrainian forces still need to be trained on the machines.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists Wednesday that sending Western tanks to Ukraine was a “failed plan” and an “overestimation of the potential that this will add to the Ukrainian army.” 

“These tanks will burn like all the rest,” he declared. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that, even if Ukraine’s Western partners provide fewer tanks than Russia has on the battlefield, the support would boost his forces’ morale.

“They do only one very important thing — they motivate our soldiers to fight for their own values, because they show that the whole world is with you,” Zelenskyy told Germany’s ARD television network.