Polish Radio
February 8, 2023

Polish, German defence ministers discuss tanks for Ukraine

Poland’s defence minister has met with his German counterpart to discuss the delivery of Leopard main battle tanks to war-torn Ukraine, among other issues.

Germany’s defence minister told reporters afterwards that the talks with Błaszczak had been “very honest and open,” focusing on possibilities for future cooperation.

Pistorius stressed that he was visiting Warsaw merely two weeks into his tenure as Germany’s defence chief.

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Pistorius added: “And I realise what a huge responsibility we have as partners. It’s about shared political and economic interests, but above all about securing the eastern flank of NATO….”

Pistorius added he and Błaszczak, who is also Poland’s deputy prime minister, discussed ways to orient Germany’s arms industry towards producing more weapons for Ukraine….

Germany’s defence minister revealed that he and Błaszczak would next week meet with Ukraine’s defence chief, Oleksii Reznikov, as well as with counterparts from other countries that had pledged to send some of their German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

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Pistorius and Siewiera discussed arms deliveries to Ukraine, including the Leopard 2 tanks, allied unity…and bolstering the eastern flank of the NATO alliance at the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in the summer….

Last month, Germany and the United States, as well as Poland, among other Western countries, announced they would provide modern tanks to help Ukraine fight the Russian invasion.

Germany agreed to allow partner countries to re-export German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

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Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in an interview with Canadian television that Poland would send an additional 60 battle tanks to Ukraine, on top of the 14 German-made Leopards it had already promised.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Paris, Vadym Omelchenko, said on January 27 that Western countries had promised to send a total of 321 heavy tanks to Ukraine….

On Tuesday, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands said they intended to supply Ukraine with at least 100 refurbished older, Leopard 1 battle tanks.