Spain to hand over Leopard 2 to Ukraine in the spring

The Leopard 2 main battle tanks, which Spain has decided to transfer to Ukraine, will be delivered to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the spring.

Margarita Robles, Minister of Defense of Spain, announced this.

According to her, Spain will send Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine in coordination with NATO partners and allies.

The training of the Ukrainian crews to operate these tanks will also take place in Spain.

“It should be taken into account that it is not only about the vehicles, but there is also very important work, which consists of training [Ukrainian – Ed.] crews for these tanks, as well as training in technical maintenance,” the head of the Ministry of Defense pointed out.

She added that the supply of tanks could be carried out already in the spring.

Robles explained that it regarded the Leopard 2A4, which were located at the base in Zaragoza and were not currently used by the Armed Forces of Spain, Infodefense reports.

“In Zaragoza, there are Leopard 2A4 storage tanks that haven’t been used for a long time, and we are going to check which ones can be put into operation for transfer to Ukraine,” she said.

At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Defense does not specify exactly how many tanks will be transferred to Ukraine. According to her, the exact number will be determined based on the results of consultations with partner countries.

According to the sources in Spain’s defense ministry, it can take at least three months to prepare the tanks, which have not been used for a long time. The tanks have to go through a long process of de-preservation and repair, as they have been in storage for a long time without maintenance.

As previously reported, the issue of transferring Spanish tanks to Ukraine was first raised in the summer of last year, but at the time it was stated that the equipment was in an inadequate condition.

In Zaragoza, the Spanish army keeps in storage 53 of the available 108 tanks in the Leopard 2A4 version. However, they are in different technical conditions.