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Rheinmetall intends to send first 20-25 Leopard 1 tanks to Kiev in 2023 — CEO

The rest of the 88 Leopard 1 tanks it owns in total to be sent next year, the company’s CEO Armin Papperger says

BERLIN, February 7. /TASS/. Germany’s arms maker Rheinmetall plans to ship 20-25 Leopard 1 basic battle tanks to the Kiev regime this year, the company’s CEO Armin Papperger said on Tuesday.

According to Reuters, he said that the company would send Ukraine 20-25 Leopards this year, with the rest of the 88 Leopard 1 tanks it owns in total to be sent next year.

Earlier on Tuesday, Der Spiegel reported that earlier this week, Germany’s Federal Security Council consisting of the chancellor and the foreign, interior, defense, finance, economic, economic cooperation, and justice ministers approved the delivery of a total of 178 Leopard 1 tanks from industrial reserves to Ukraine. Ideally, the first batch of tanks is expected to reach Ukraine as early as this summer, the rest, according to Der Spiegel, is not likely to be supplied before 2024.

The Bundeswehr completely removed Leopard 1 tanks from service in 2003 replacing them with a more modern Leopard 2 version.

On January 25, the German government confirmed that it would send 14 Leopard 2 tanks from Germany’s military stockpiles to Ukraine and issue permits to other countries for their re-export. According to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, the tanks will be delivered before "the end of March." The UK, Norway, Poland, Slovakia and France said they would send their tanks to Ukraine as well. The Kiev regime hopes to receive up to 140 tanks from 12 countries in the first batch.