BERLIN, April 21. /TASS/. Berlin, Warsaw and Kiev have signed an agreement to set up a center to provide maintenance and repairs in Poland to Leopard 2 tanks that will be engaged in the Ukrainian conflict, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters on Friday.

The center is expected to start work at the end of May, he said on the sidelines of Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein, according to a broadcast by the German television channel Welt.

"We are talking about costs that can vary, in the region of 150-200 million euros per year. We will split them fairly," Pistorius said. "We assume that the hub will be able to start its work at the end of next month."

On January 25, the German government confirmed that it would send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and issue permission to other countries to re-export these vehicles. On February 24, Germany decided to supply Kiev with four more of these machines from its armed forces inventories. At the end of March, it became known that the promised 18 Leopard 2 tanks had already arrived at their destination.

The Leopard 2 is considered one of the most advanced battle tanks on the global arms market. However, the system’s complexity may be a problem as it’s very demanding in terms of maintenance, so Germany decided to open a maintenance center.