Poland is moving forward: its modified Soviet tanks are said to have been spotted in Kursk. The Russian neighbor is already taking a stand against Putin.
Ramstein – “We will be able to continue the support until 2026,” stressed Federal Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius (SPD) during the 24th meeting of the so-called Ukraine-Contact group at the US base Ramstein in Rhineland-Palatinate. “We remain in a continuous supply process for Ukraine.” However, he also made it clear that Germany continues to reject attacks with Western weapons on targets deep in Vladimir Putin’s territory – Poland apparently sees things differently, and Ukraine is probably acting accordingly.
As the magazine Army Recognition reports that a video circulating on social media shows that Ukrainian forces may have used the Polish-supplied PT-91 “Twardy” (Polish for: “The Hard One”) main battle tank in the Kursk region. Although the footage appears to show one of these tanks in action, there is no confirmation from the Ukrainian military, the magazine writes. The report is based solely on claims in the video. The “Twardy” is a Polish-made modernization of the T-72 and is said to have been delivered to Ukraine in early 2023.
Poland sovereign: Ukraine receives full authority to use weapons
The magazine describes it as “remarkable” Defense Expressthat Poland has not imposed any restrictions on the use of these tanks by Ukraine – they can therefore also be used in battles on Russian soil. The Polish government therefore follows the principle that once a combat unit or weapon has been physically transferred to Ukraine, it is no longer Polish property. This means that Ukraine has full authority to use the equipment as it sees fit, without violating international law or NATO to go into the war.
“The goals of the project were to create a secondary front-line tank for the Leopard 2A4 and to keep the Polish tank industry alive
Germany’s position on this issue has not changed, said Defense Minister Pistorius on the sidelines of the event in Ramstein. But there will be no change in the basic support for Ukraine. “We will support Ukraine for as long as it is necessary,” said Pistorius. The focus of German military support for Ukraine will therefore remain air defense. But now new Panzerhaubitze 2000s are being delivered, as well as additional Leopard A1 battle tanks. “We said from the start that we always act according to the situation,” Major General Christian Freuding explained a few weeks ago.
In the German Armed Forces-Podcast Inquired the
officer in the special staff Ukraine in the Ministry of Defense had taken a position on the course of the front. Freuding told of helicopters that had attacked Ukraine from over the border between Kharkiv in Ukraine and Belgorod in Russia; he reported on the glide bomb attacks over 70 kilometers from the Russian heartland and that Russian guns had been able to fire on the defenders for days without being disturbed before the USA and other NATO partners have decided to soften their stance.
Germany weighs up: “Logic of crisis response” determines action against Putin
This was neither militarily nor morally justifiable, concluded the German tank general, and denied that Germany would become a party to the war by supplying weapons. Because these weapons were in the possession of the Ukrainians, were operated by Ukrainian forces and thus Germany was not responsible for any “damaging act”, as he put it. Wall Street Journal This raises the question of why the USA and its European partners did not help much earlier or more intensively based on this theory. Elizabeth Hoffman and Benjamin Jensen call this the “logic of crisis response”.
To the Wall Street Journal To prevent a series of smaller or larger skirmishes, the two scientists from the think tank Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) a strategic foresight that corresponds to the length of this war so far and the length that is to be feared. Poland seems to have developed this foresight. Defense Express can only speculate how many PT-91 “Twardy” tanks Ukraine received from Poland.
PT-91 “Twardy” – Russia’s legacy may be rolling home again
Romanian journalists claim to have discovered that possibly up to 100 pieces against Russia roll, the magazine Army Recognition speaks of 60 vehicles that are said to have marched into Ukraine at the end of July 2022 – at that time as an immediate response to the invasion by Russia in February 2022; their military impact as a system in itself is estimated to be low, but they are considered to be an immediate aid, as the Ukrainian tank crews were familiar with this weapon system of Soviet origin.
Where exactly these tanks are being used is also unconfirmed; bloggers suspect that they are in service with the 22nd Independent Mechanized Brigade. In itself, the tank is simply a modernization of the original T-72 with stronger armor, a reconditioned fire control system and a more powerful engine. Charlie Gao sees the “Twardy” as the core of Poland’s emancipation in tank construction after the Cold War. At the end of March 1991, the Eastern Alliance had fallen apart, and the Poles had a huge legacy of T-72s.
Offensive against Putin: Polish arms industry emancipates itself
As political scientist Gao writes for the magazine The National Interest writes, the rearmament with Leopard 2 models then began, and the T-72 was modernized as the backbone of the Polish tank fleet and redesigned into the PT-91. In addition to various modernizations in armor and optics, the gun became the biggest challenge because the PT-91 still used a 125 mm cannon, while the western tanks fired a 120 mm cannon; this put a strain on logistics.
“The goals of the project were to create a secondary frontal tank for the Leopard 2A4 and to keep the Polish tank industry alive,” Gao writes. Poland has now also emancipated itself from the supply of military equipment by its NATO partners – and withdrew from the coalition supporting Ukraine.
Mateusz Morawiecki has during the Ukraine War and made a clear statement: “We are no longer handing over weapons to Ukraine. We are now arming ourselves by equipping ourselves with the most modern weapons,” Poland’s former prime minister said in September last year in an interview with the Polish television station Satellite. Donald Tusk, his successor, is maintaining this approach to Vladimir Putin. For about a year now, reports have been pouring in about the speed and nature of Poland’s rearmament.
Poland’s plan: Towards the strongest army in Europe
For 30 years, Warsaw’s Eastern policy has been preparing for possible territorial aggression Moscow’s and tries to deter them. Poland is afraid, as the publicist Janusz A. Majcherek writes in the German-Polish magazine dialog writes: The Polish attitude towards Russia and the Russians was formed as a result of recent history, which, in his opinion, was a constant, aggressive expansion of Russia at the expense of Poland.
After Poland ordered 1,000 South Korean K2 tanks (Black Panther), the country at the interface between NATO and Russia plans to build the South Korean tanks itself under license. While the first batch – 180 tanks – will come from South Korea, the following vehicles will be manufactured in co-production, with the last batch being manufactured entirely in Poland, writes the magazine European security and technology.
The New Zurich Newspaper sees Poland on the way to becoming the strongest army in Europe. Poland wants to have achieved this by 2035. The delivery of the “Twardy” may also be seen as an opportunity to rehabilitate the Polish army at its core. In addition to the PT-91 “Twardy”, Ukraine is said to have also received 250 T-72M1 tanks – the Poles are thus rid of their Soviet heritage; the Polish gesture would thus have a new meaning, as Defense Express suspects: “However, this is more of a political statement than a tactical turning point on the battlefield.” (Karsten Hinzmann)
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