Germany will deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, requested by kyiv, two German media reported on Tuesday evening. The United States could for their part agree to deliver Abrams tanks, affirms for its part the wall street journal. Chancellor Olaf Scholz should give the green light, probably on Wednesday, to the dispatch of German Leopard 2 type 2A6 tanks, says the Spiegel on its website, without citing a source. It is “at least one company”, or at least ten heavy tanks, adds this media.
The NTV news channel, which quotes sources close to the government, also indicates that the German chancellor, under pressure for several weeks to give his agreement, is preparing to announce it.
An internationally renowned weapon
Questioned by AFP, the entourage of the Social Democratic Chancellor did not wish to comment on Tuesday evening. The German leader, who is due to speak on Wednesday at noon GMT before the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, would also give his agreement to countries, including Poland, which wish to deliver Leopard 2 tanks to kyiv, according to these media. The Leopard 2 heavy tank, which Ukraine has been demanding for months from Germany and the West, is a world-renowned weapon that could have a “significant” impact on the battlefield, experts say.
Designed by the German manufacturer Krauss-Maffei and built in series from the end of the 1970s to replace the American M48 Patton tanks and then the Leopard 1 tank, the Leopard 2 combines firepower, mobility and protection. In Berlin, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday morning that he “expressly encouraged partner countries that have Leopard tanks ready for deployment to train Ukrainian forces on these tanks”.
So far, Finland and Poland have said they are ready to do so. Warsaw, which wants to create a “coalition of countries supporting Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks”, has officially sent a request to this effect, the receipt of which was confirmed by Berlin on Tuesday. “We will process the request with the urgency required in accordance with the planned procedure,” a German government spokesman said on Tuesday.