WASHINGTON, May 25. /TASS/. Western countries have discussed their progress in setting up a maintenance hub for Leopard 2 tanks that will be engaged in the Ukrainian conflict, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in April that Berlin, Warsaw and Kiev agreed to set up a maintenance hub for Leopards in Poland.

"Today members of the Leopard tank consortium discussed their progress in setting up a maintenance hub and furthering their efforts to resource this important program for years to come," Austin said at a news conference following a virtual meeting of a group of countries that supply weapons to Ukraine.

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 a decision was made to open a maintenance hub.