During a visit to the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, Duda said in a joint press conference with his Ukrainian and Lithuanian counterparts that “the Leopard tank division (14 tanks) will be sent within the framework of an alliance that is currently being established.”
“As you know, there are a number of formal conditions that must be met, such as obtaining approvals and so on, but most of all, we want this to be an international coalition,” he added, noting that it depends on other countries to contribute to the deliveries.
Leopard-2 are advanced German-made heavy tanks, and therefore the sale or donation of any of them must obtain prior approval from Berlin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the statement of his Polish counterpart, saying that his country expects a “joint decision” involving additional countries willing to send Leopard tanks.
“A country alone cannot help us because we are fighting thousands of Russian tanks,” Zelensky said.
He added, “I think there will be (Wednesday) a positive decision from another country to provide us with modern Western tanks,” without naming the country he was talking about.
During the same press conference, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausida announced that his country would send Zenit anti-aircraft systems with ammunition to Ukraine.
Ukraine is asking Germany in particular to hand over tanks, and Berlin has not yet responded to its request for “Leopard 2” armored vehicles.
“The longer this decision is delayed, the more the number of victims will increase and the number of civilian deaths will increase,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Kuleba said he believed it was only a matter of time before Germany agreed to supply Leopard-2 tanks to his country.
“Even if Germany has rational arguments not to do this, it will do it later,” the Ukrainian minister said in an interview with ARD TV.
He added that the Germans “at first say no, then defend their decision vigorously, only to come back and say yes in the end.”
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