Germany to send Leopard 1 battle tanks to Ukraine
Berlin — The German government has issued an export licence for Leopard 1 battle tanks to Ukraine, spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in Berlin on Friday, without giving further details.
Until now, the government had only decided to approve the delivery of modern Leopard 2 battle tanks from the military stocks of the Bundeswehr.
German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) had reported that manufacturers Rheinmetall and FFG wanted to refurbish dozens of Leopard 1 tanks and could supply them to Ukraine for the fight against Russia. According to other media reports, Rheinmetall has 88 Leopard 1 tanks at its disposal.
However, the SZ report added that there had been problems so far with procuring ammunition.
The refurbishment is expected to take many months. “Even if the decision is made ...