First Polish Leopard tanks already in Ukraine: Duda

Krakow, Poland, Feb 24 (EFE).- Poland has already sent the first batch of Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, president Andrzej Duda said Friday.

Poland was one of the leading European cheerleaders for providing the equipment to the Ukrainian armed forces ahead of the decision by Germany — which manufactures the Leopard tanks — to green-light the re-export of the vehicles last month.

Duda made the announcement ahead of a security meeting in Warsaw, and it was later confirmed by Poland’s defense minister, although neither specified the number of tanks delivered to Ukraine.

Warsaw previously said it would deliver 14 tanks to Kyiv.

Poland’s army is in possession of 240 Leopard 2 tanks, of which 137 are the type A4 that were sent to Ukraine, 105 are type A5 while around a dozen are modified Leopard 2 PL.

The announcement from the Polish president came as Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister, was on a visit to Kyiv to meet with Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion. EFE

mag/jt/ch