UPDATE: Saturday, Feb 25, 2023 · 1:38:08 AM +00:00
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Charles Jay
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov climbed out of a Polish Leopard 2 tank delivered to Kyiv Friday by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
He was asked about his first impressions. Reznikov replied in Polish:
"Przepraszam, gdzie jest droga do Moskwy?" That translates to: "Excuse me, where is the road to Moscow?"
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says Ukraine has received its first Western main battle tanks—four German-made Leopard 2 tanks sent by Poland—on the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Shmyhal posed for photographs Friday in front of the tanks with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, and crews of military vehicles. Ukrainian tank crews have been training for weeks in Poland to operate the Leopard 2s.
Ukraine had long been seeking Western-made main battle tanks for its arsenal. The Leopard 2s hopefully will be available for use in a planned spring offensive, once weather conditions improve. The Breaking Defense website reports that an international coalition has already pledged to deliver around 80 of the main battle tanks.
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Morawiecki said he had brought the first four Leopard tanks from Poland so Ukraine “could defeat as quickly as possible the Russian aggressors. Thank you for your courage and struggle.”
Reznikov said: “I am glad to welcome the first `beasts’ in our Ukrainian military-technical zoo! We are looking forward to being able to welcome more `kittens.’”
The four tanks are the first of 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks that Poland has pledged to send Ukraine.
Morawiecki has also promised to send 60 modernized PT-91 tanks. The PT-91 is a Polish-made battle tank developed from the Soviet-era T-72 range that came into service in the 1990s. Last year, Poland sent 250 Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine.
Morawiecki also met in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Poland and Europe stand by your side. We will definitely not leave you, we will support Ukraine until complete victory over Russia,” Morawiecki said, standing alongside Zelenskyy, at a joint news conference after their meeting. Morawiecki also explained that Ukrainian tankers are receiving intensive training on how to operate the Leopard 2s.
Just weeks after Germany gave the green light for the Leopard 2s to be sent to Ukraine, more than 100 Ukrainian troops worked with Polish, Norwegian, and Canadian instructors at the Swietoszow Military Base in western Poland, one of NATO’s main tank training centers in Europe. "Our instructors are very impressed with how quickly Ukrainian tankers master modern tanks," Morawiecki said. "We can transfer our next Leopard tanks very quickly. But also in the next few days we will transfer very good PT-91 tanks and the next 60 tanks will arrive in Ukraine," he added.
Morawiecki said he had also held conversations about transferring modern tanks to Ukraine with the prime ministers of Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, as well as the German chancellor. At the news conference, Morawiecki said that Poland is also ready to train Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, but he said this must be agreed upon within a broader coalition.
"If we talk about the fact that we are ready to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s, then yes, we are ready to conduct such exercises on F-16 fighters in Poland," he said. He added that it is very important the “Ukrainian sky is finally safe.”
Zelenskyy said that three more European countries besides Poland have expressed their readiness to start training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s. "We are opening up the possibility of training on the F-16. We have a real feeling that with three more European states—I won't say which ones—there is an opportunity to get these exercises and aircraft. There is no smoke without fire, and therefore training is needed for some time. We want to speed up these processes. They are complex, but this is the comprehensive protection of the sky," Zelenskyy said.
Other countries used the occasion of the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion to pledge more modern weaponry for Ukraine. The Swedish government announced that it intends to provide up to 10 Leopard 2 battle tanks as well as components of the HAWK and IRIS-T anti-aircraft systems. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said his country will supply Ukraine with 18 Leopard 2A6 tanks instead of the 14 previously announced. He said that combined with the tanks that Portugal and Sweden plan to deliver, Ukraine will be able to form an entire battalion of Leopard 2A6 tanks. A standard Ukrainian battalion has 31 tanks.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada will provide Ukraine with four more Leopard 2 main battle tanks, doubling Canada’s contribution to a total of eight tanks. Trudeau said Canada will also donate an armored recovery vehicle and over 5,000 rounds of ammunition.
President Joe Biden announced last month that the U.S. would send 31 M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine, but these may not arrive until 2024, according to the Secretary of the Army.
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