While Western countries debate whether, when, and how many of their tanks should be given to Ukraine, Poland has already, as the first nation, sent the first four of their Leopard tanks there. That's on top of the 250 T-72s Poland sent last year.
This was announced by the Polish Minister of Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak. He reminded that on January 11, President Andrzej Duda put forward a project to create a coalition that would hand over Western-made tanks to Ukraine. "And we have indeed built such a coalition," - he added.
According to the minister, "the fact of our cooperation with Germany plays a fundamental role here." "After talking to my German counterpart, at his request, I agreed to such a division that the Polish side is engaged in building a coalition of countries that have Leopard 2A4 tanks, and the German side of countries that have Leopard 2A6 tanks."
He also thanked his counterparts from Norway, Canada, Finland, and other countries, because - as he said - "we managed to create a battalion of these tanks." The Deputy Prime Minister also informed that "today Polish Leopards have already arrived in Ukraine." "At the same time, Ukrainian soldiers are being trained by Polish, Canadian and Norwegian instructors at the Leopard Training Center (in Poland)," - the minister added.
