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Warsaw to send 10 more Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine this week — defense minister

"The battalion is formed. We are waiting for Minister Pistorius to form a battalion," Mariusz Blaszczak said

Leopard 2 AP Photo/Martin Meissner

Leopard 2

© AP Photo/Martin Meissner

WARSAW, March 7. /TASS/. Poland will send ten more Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine this week, Polish National Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Tuesday.

According to the Polish defense minister, four out of the 14 tanks Poland has promised to send to Kiev are already in Ukraine. "Ten more will reach Ukraine this week," he said.

He recalled that as part of an agreement that had been reached with his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, the Polish side would be responsible for forming a coalition of countries supplying Ukraine with Leopard 2A4 tanks and the German side - with Leopard 2A6 tanks. "The coalition has been formed," he stated, adding that it is comprised of eight tanks from Norway, eight from Canada, six from Spain, and tank battalion support vehicles from Finland.

"The battalion is formed. We are waiting for Minister Pistorius to form a battalion," Blaszczak said.

On January 25, the German government announced that it planned to supply Ukraine with 14 Leopard 2 tanks and to allow re-export of such tanks from other countries. Plans to send tanks to Ukraine were also announced by the United Kingdom, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, France, and other countries. Poland announced its plans to send 14 tanks to Ukraine. The first four tanks were sent to Ukraine from Poland on February 24.

Meanwhile, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow considers supplies of Western weapons to Ukraine as evidence of the West’s growing involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

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