The government in Warsaw recently announced that it is willing to send some of its Lorpard tanks to Ukraine as part of a coalition of countries to support Ukraine’s war efforts. Poland is also pushing for countries who have Leopards to send them to Ukraine to join the coalition. Despite the fact that it is a key demand from Kyiv as it tries to breathe new momentum into its fight against the forthcoming Russian offensive - Germany - the key producer of these tanks, remains unconvinced to provide its second generation battle tanks to Ukraine.
Re-exporting the German-made tanks would normally require Berlin's approval, and initially Gemany made an issue out of that. But, amid growing pressure, Germany’s new Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stated recently (22/01/2023) that her country will not block Poland if it asks to send its supply of German-made Leopard 2 tanks.
Poland is a leading advocate within the European Union of arming Ukraine, it sent more than 230 of its Т-72 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles to this country. Poland's Ministry of National Defence Mariusz Blaszczak suggested that“Support for Ukraine is possible because we can provide an equivalent for the Polish Army. There are already Korean К-2 tanks and К-9 howitzers. There will also be HIMARS and Abrams tanks.
Poland remains one of the most active donor countries supporting Ukraine, both in terms of aid for residents and supplying military equipment. The total value of Polish donations is estimated at 1.7 billion USD.
Poland is particularly helpful to Ukraine because of its geography / geopolitics, for the authorities in Warsaw know that in the event of Ukraine's defeat, Poland's 232 kilometres long border with Russia would extend to 761 km that would be more difficult to defend.
Meanwhile, Germany and France remain reluctant suppliers of military hardware to Ukraine, simply because of their much strong ties with Russia, lack of immediate threat and their reliance on the cheap imports from Russia.
Even after Annexaction of Crimea France was selling Russia with military equipment, whilst Germany was very keen on buiilding the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline project, designed to double the flow of Russian gas direct to Germany, despite of the protests from Ukraine and Poland
Comments