German defense minister: NATO countries could transfer 62 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine

The Kyiv Independent news desk
·1 min read
46

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk on Feb. 26 that NATO can likely provide Ukraine with a total of 62 German-made Leopard 2 main battle tanks.

“Yes, it can happen,” Pistorius said. “And then we will see how the course of the war changes after that.”

According to him, overall, Ukraine's Western partners are theoretically capable of handing over 300 tanks as requested by Kyiv.

This number of tanks will be enough to form two tank battalions, the minister said. However, Pistorius doubted that Germany would approve additional Leopard 2 deliveries, as the country's industry must first replace the tanks in Germany's own stocks.

“If I gave away all the tanks, we wouldn’t be able to train anymore, and if we couldn’t practice anymore,” he said.

On Jan. 25, Germany finally agreed to transfer Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and allowed the re-export of the same models from other countries.