Poland says it will send Leopard tanks to Ukraine — if others do, too
LVIV, Ukraine — Poland has decided to send a company of Leopard tanks to help neighboring Ukraine in its war against Russia, President Andrzej Duda said Wednesday.
But the move would be possible only as an element of a larger international coalition of tank aid to Kyiv, Duda said while on a visit to Lviv in western Ukraine.
Poland’s leaders have been indicating that they were in talks with other countries over a potential international coalition that would send the German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine. They haven’t named the countries.
Within this potential international coalition, “we have taken the decision to contribute a first package of tanks, a company of Leopard tanks, which, I hope, together with other companies of Leopard and other tanks that will be offered by other countries, will .... be able to strengthen Ukraine’s defense,” Duda told a news conference in Lviv.
A company consists of 14 tanks.
Duda and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Lviv as part of the so-called Lublin Triangle of mutual cooperation.
Armored vehicles from the U.S. and Germany, including 50 tank-killing Bradleys, should expand Ukraine’s ability to move troops to the front lines.
Zelensky said that Ukraine needs tanks to win the war and is “awaiting a joint decision” on the subject because “one country cannot provide us with a sufficient number of them.”
The three leaders also discussed further strategic partnership between their countries.
“Lithuania and Poland have confirmed their determination to continue providing military, political, diplomatic, economic and humanitarian support to Ukraine,” Nauseda said.
“The war in Ukraine is our war — the war of the free world against a dictator. We will stand with Ukraine until victory,” he said.
Taking Soledar after months of Ukrainian defense would give Russian troops a springboard for their efforts to encircle the nearby city of Bakhmut.
In Britain, another staunch ally of Ukraine, a spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that “battle tanks could provide a game-changing capability to the Ukrainians.”
Spokesman Max Blain said that Sunak has instructed Defense Secretary Ben Wallace to work with allies on which vehicles were best to send. He said no final decision has been made. Britain has been considering whether to send Challenger 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, which has been battling Russia’s full-scale invasion since Feb. 24, 2022.
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