Poland has become the first country to declare its willingness to send Western-design main battle tanks to Ukraine, to aid its defense against the Russian invasion.
According to Poland’s president Andrzej Duda, the country is ready to transfer a company’s worth of Leopard tanks to Ukraine, stating only one condition.
Namely, such a move would be made only as part of an international coalition.
“A company of Leopard tanks will be transferred as part of the creation of a coalition,” Duda said while on a visit to Lviv, Ukraine. “However, first of all, we want it to be an international coalition.”
The Polish president did not specify who would be making up this international coalition, but it is worth noting that Poland would have to first obtain approval for the transfer of the Leopards to Ukraine from Germany, where the tanks were built.
Poland has already transferred the Soviet T-72 tanks to Ukraine, in response to Russia’s invasion.
Duda further said he hoped this transfer would be the first tank package and that Ukraine would soon have further companies of Leopards and other types of tanks.
While the president did not specify the number of Leopards that could be sent, a company in the Polish Army is usually constituted by 14 tanks.
