COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark and the Netherlands introduced Thursday that they plan to supply Ukraine with at the least 14 refurbished German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks, to be provided from early 2024.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen referred to as it “a significant donation” which got here on high of a contribution by Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany, introduced in February, to provide at the least 100 older Leopard 1 A5 tanks.
In a joint assertion, the Danish and Dutch protection ministers stated the estimated value of 165 million euros “to jointly acquire, refurbish and donate” will likely be equally divided between the 2 NATO members.
“In this way, we will jointly take part in the ‘Leopard 2 coalition’, supported by many partners and allies,” they stated.
In January, Germany agreed to ship 14 newer Leopard 2 A6 tanks from its navy’s present shares, and raised the quantity to 18 in February.
Acting Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen careworn that the tanks weren’t Danish however are “bought in collaboration with the Netherlands.”
Denmark at the moment has Leopard 2 A7 tanks that are a “different and newer model than the one we are donating now,” Lund Poulsen added.
In a separate assertion, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren stated that “having the Leopard 2 A4 most important battle tank at its disposal will give Ukraine superiority on the battlefield, because of the tank’s main hearth energy, excessive stage of safety and pace.
“Over the last few weeks, the Ukrainian armed forces have already demonstrated that they are able to master the skills needed to operate the tank in a short amount of time,” she added.
On Twitter, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba wrote that “We are deeply grateful for this contribution.”
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This story has been corrected to indicate that Germany despatched a complete of 18 Leopard tanks, not 14.
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