"We have delivered Leopard tanks as we announced. We are delivering very modern tanks," Prime Minister Scholz said at a joint press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Rotterdam when asked to confirm the information by Spiegel on March 27.
The German Defense Ministry later confirmed the delivery of 18 Leopard tanks, along with two Buffel armored tank recovery vehicles and around 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said: "I am sure that this equipment can make a difference on the ground."
German Leopard 2 tank - Photo: AP
The specific delivery route is kept secret for security reasons, but Spiegel 's report said the last tank left Germany late last week, before being handed over to Ukraine at the border.
According to TASS news agency, the type of tank that Ukraine received is the modern Leopard 2. Initially, Germany promised to provide Ukraine with 14 Leopard 2A6s, but this number was not enough for a tank battalion, so Berlin decided to send 4 more to Kiev.
On this occasion, Mr. Scholz and Mr. Rutte also discussed joint military support for Ukraine and their "unique" military cooperation, including the integration of some armed units between Germany and the Netherlands.
In another development, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Iryna Zolotar said that British Challenger tanks "are already in Ukraine." Earlier, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Renikov said he inspected "a new addition" to the country's forces on March 27.
Ukrainian soldiers on British Challenger 2 tanks during training - Photo: PA
The Guardian quoted an earlier statement from the British Ministry of Defense, also on March 27, that Ukrainian soldiers had returned home "after completing training in the UK on British tanks".
The Ukrainian troops arrived in the UK shortly after Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced in January that the country would send 14 Challenger 2 tanks, a modern British-made main battle tank, to Ukraine.
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