WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland will send 10 more German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine this week, the Polish defence minister said on Tuesday.
“Four (tanks) are already in Ukraine, another 10 will go to Ukraine this week,” Mariusz Blaszczak told a news conference. Poland has promised to send 14 Leopard 2 tanks in total.
Blaszczak was heading to a meeting of European Union defence ministers in Stockholm on Tuesday to discuss the security of Europe and support for Ukraine.
“We are also scheduled for talks with Boris Pistrius, the German defence minister. The basic issue we will talk about is the low availability of spare parts for Leopard tanks,” Blaszczak said.
This problem could be solved primarily by the German arms industry and Poland is also ready to produce such parts, he added.
“We are ready to launch a service hub in Poland, which will deal with the repair and service of Leopard tanks delivered to Ukraine,” Blaszczak said.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Susan Fenton)
