First Gepard anti-aircraft guns in Ukraine – Ukraine's defense minister
Photo: Wikipedia
The first three German Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery systems have been delivered to Ukraine and handed over to the Ukrainian forces
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said this on the air of a national telethon, answering questions about Germany's provision of military aid to Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.
"So far, I can say that Germany's first three Gepard [tanks] have arrived today. These are anti-aircraft missile complexes, for which we have received several tens of thousands of warheads. And therefore, we are expecting the first 15 Gepard [tanks]. Three arrived in Ukraine today, and they are already at the disposal of the Armed Forces," Reznikov said.
When asked whether Ukraine would receive German tanks, the minister said: "I hope so. We will most likely start with one of the friendly countries with Leopard tanks ready to hand over to us. These are European countries. Initially, we plan to train our tank crews in several dozen tanks, most likely in the Baltic countries."
According to Reznikov, Ukraine has agreements on using international partners' training grounds to train the Ukrainian military.
He added that after the crews are ready, "the conversation about the supply of modern tanks will continue." According to the minister, we are talking not only about Leopard tanks but also about Abrams tanks and others.
Earlier, Rubryka reported that Germany's ruling coalition proposed to abandon the circular supply system and supply tanks to Ukraine directly due to the slow supply of weapons from Germany. Free Democratic Party's MP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann voiced the opinion following similar statements from the Green Party member and Young Liberals.
Reference
"Gepard" (Flugabwehrkanonenpanzer Gepard) is a German self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery system produced by Krauss-Maffei in cooperation with other companies.
It is intended to protect armored columns on the march and stationary objects from attacks from helicopters and airplanes at low and ultra-low altitudes day and night under any weather conditions and in conditions of intensive radio-electronic countermeasures by the enemy.
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