Modern tanks for the first time?
Spain apparently wants to deliver “Leopard 2” to Ukraine
06/05/2022, 10:01 p.m
Actually, according to the SPD, the NATO countries do not want to supply modern Western weapons to Ukraine. Spain might now break this alleged agreement. According to a report, Ukraine will get “Leopard 2” tanks.
According to a report in the newspaper “El País”, Spain wants to deliver German Leopard 2 A4 main battle tanks and anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine. The newspaper wrote, citing information from the Defense Ministry in Madrid, that these were mothballed tanks that had to be prepared for use. The training of Ukrainian soldiers on the tanks should first take place in Latvia and later in Spain. The ministry has yet to comment on the report.
It would be the first time that Ukraine would receive modern Western tanks in a fight once morest the Russian army. In Germany, politicians from the ruling SPD party have so far emphasized that there is an informal agreement between the NATO countries not to supply such weapons. According to the newspaper report, around 40 of the 108 Leopard tanks that Spain bought used in Germany in 1995 might be made operational once more.
According to the report, Spain is also preparing to deliver a battery of surface-to-air missiles of the MBDA type “Shorad Aspide”. These have already been decommissioned by the Spanish armed forces and replaced by newer systems. So far, Spain has mainly supplied Ukraine with light weapons, ammunition and protective equipment.
The Ukraine had repeatedly and explicitly demanded the delivery of “Leopard” tanks from Germany. According to Ukrainian ambassador Andrei Melnyk, the last shipment of German arms arrived in Ukraine on May 3. Melnyk warned: “For us, the marten and the ‘Leopard 1’ remain on the agenda. We expect the go-ahead from the federal government to come quickly.”