MOSCOW, 6 Feb. The Leopard 1 tanks that Germany decided to transfer to Ukraine will create additional difficulties for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, writes the American magazine Military Watch, citing interviewed military experts.
The German Cabinet on Friday confirmed that Germany approved the transfer of Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine. The newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote about this earlier, which pointed out problems with ammunition in this context, since these tanks are no longer being produced.
According to American analysts, the tanks promised to the Ukrainian side are outdated.
«Leopard's main weapon 1 of the old rifled design not only has very limited performance compared to modern smoothbore guns, but can only use 105-millimeter projectiles,» the publication notes.
This type of ammunition is not available in Ukrainian warehouses. In the West, this caliber is also difficult to find, since they switched to 120-mm tank guns more than 40 years ago.
Leopard 1 was the main tank of Germany until the 1980s of the last century. The tank is still in service with the tank formations of the ground forces of the armed forces of various countries of the world and is constantly being modernized. It was in service with the Bundeswehr until 2003, it was replaced back in the 1980s by the Leopard 2.
Russia had previously sent a note to NATO countries because of arms supplies to Ukraine. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect.