North Macedonia hands over T-72 tanks to Ukraine

The Ministry of Defense of North Macedonia confirmed the transfer of T-72 tanks to Ukraine.

This was reported by rts.rs.

On Thursday, July 28, a convoy of third generation T-72 tanks was sent to Ukraine. They used to belong to a soon to be dissolved battalion.

Earlier, photos of the tanks were released on social media.

The exact number of armored vehicles was not specified.

The publication noted that over all 31 vehicles of this type were in service with the army of North Macedonia. The Skopje government received these tanks from the Russian Federation in 2000 during the armed conflict between the Macedonian authorities and the Albanian rebels.

The decision to transfer Macedonian tanks to Ukraine was explained by eventual obsoletion of these vehicles in a few years.

The day before, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov announced that Leopard 2 tanks from “one of the friendly countries” may soon arrive in Ukraine.

These first tanks will be used on training grounds in the Baltic countries for military practice.

It is rather likely that the transfer in question will come from Spain.

Reznikov also noted that negotiations regarding the further arrival of tanks in Ukraine will continue.

In addition, Germany expressed a wish to end circular deliveries and switch to direct transfer of advanced weapons to Ukraine. So far, this model of equipment exchange has failed to meet expectations.