WARSAW, Feb 14 Leopard tanks to be delivered to Ukraine in March this year, Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak told reporters in Brussels after a meeting of NATO representatives on the topic of military support for Ukraine. will be provided,» Blaschak said.
Earlier, the German government, after pressure from NATO allies, announced that it would transfer Leopard 2 to Ukraine and allow the supply of German tanks to other countries that have them. Germany at the first stage plans to provide a company of 14 Leopard 2 type A6 from the stocks of the Bundeswehr. The United States also announced the dispatch to Ukraine of a battalion complex — 31 units — of modern Abrams tanks of its own production. At the same time, the White House said that the delivery of Abrams will take «many months.» Earlier, the leadership of Poland announced that it was ready to transfer up to 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine as part of an international coalition. Prior to this, the country had already transferred about 250 T-72 tanks to Ukraine.
The Russian Federation had previously sent a note to all countries, including the United States, because of the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation 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.