Ukraine continues to negotiate on Leopard 2 tanks

Ukrainian diplomats continue to make efforts in negotiations with representatives of Germany on Leopard 2 tanks.

This was stated to the German media by Oleksii Makeiev, Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany.

Makeiev told the reporters he expects direct deliveries of main battle tanks from Germany.

“We have reason to hope that a decision will be made to supply Leopard 2 from Germany directly to Ukraine,” he said.

Negotiations are underway with the federal government on this. “We need these main battle tanks,” Makeiev emphasized.

“It is time to stop talking about the fact that we do not want to provoke Russia. What else could happen? How many more should there be Bucha, Mariupol or Izyum – places of rape and mass graves?,” he stated to the German media.

According to him, Germany has already demonstrated leadership with the delivery of the IRIS-T missile defense system.

“And we look forward to this leadership role in [supplying] other weapons systems as well. Those are main battle tanks and armored vehicles such as Leopard, Marder, Füchse and Dingo,” said Oleksii Makeiev.

Answering the reporter’s question on possible direct delivery of Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, the ambassador confirmed: “Yes, we are talking about it.”

Recall that Ukraine has been awaiting the Leopard 2 tanks delivery allowance for a long time. Back in July, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Alexei Reznikov spoke about the prospects for obtaining these tanks.

Then he talked about the agreement with one of the friendly countries to supply this type of weapons. The first vehicles were to be used to train the Ukrainian military. But the extent of these agreements’ implementation is not yet known.

In early August, the Spanish government decided not to transfer Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, since they are “in an improper state.”