Germany to boost supply of Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine

Germany plans to increase the supply of refurbished Leopard 1 tanks for Ukraine's needs but will not be able to replace every destroyed or damaged tank.

RTL Direkt reports, citing the statement of the Minister of Defense of Germany, Boris Pistorius. This statement came amid reports of destroyed or damaged Leopard 2 tanks in Ukraine.

"We will not be able to replace every failing tank now. But what we are doing… we will continue to supply more refurbished Leopard 1 A5 tanks from July onwards. And by the end of the year, there will be more than 100 of them," the minister stressed.

The defense minister added that the nature of war is that people die and weapons are destroyed. That is why Ukraine's support is so important.

The other day the Russians flaunted the alleged destruction of eight Leopard tanks in Ukraine. To confirm this, they even published a video, but it turned out that the occupiers were bragging about the destruction of combine harvesters, not tanks.

Neither the authorities nor Ukraine's allies confirmed the destruction of Leopard tanks in Ukraine.

As Rubryka reported, considering the first losses during the counteroffensive, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Melnyk is asking for more German-made tanks.

What we know about Leopard 1 tank supply

At the end of May, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany, Oleksii Makieiev, announced the shipment of over a hundred Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine.

In February this year, the German government confirmed the decision to sell 88 Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine.

Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands were supposed to send more than 100 Leopard-1 tanks to Ukraine by the spring of 2024, and this year Ukraine will receive only these old 20-25 tanks.

Later, it was reported that Denmark and Germany would hand over 80 Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine by the end of May.