The first six of Spain's ten Leopard main battle tanks have arrived aboard a transport ship at a Polish port.
This was stated by the Minister of Defense of Spain, Margarita Robles, reports Spiegel.
"By defending Ukraine, we not only protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country, but also support the right to legitimate self-defense enshrined in the UN Charter," Robles said at a meeting with her colleagues from Germany and France in Madrid.
The Spanish Leopard tanks that were shipped from Santander last Saturday are the older Type 2A4 model. They were decommissioned a long time ago and since 2012 have been preserved in a warehouse near Zaragoza.
Before being sent to Ukraine, the tanks were overhauled and tested for use on the battlefield.
Earlier, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that Ukrainian tankers have already started training on Leopard 1 tanks of the old model, and from the middle of 2023, 80 such tanks will be gradually transferred to Ukraine.
It will be recalled that in February, the Netherlands, together with Germany and Denmark, announced plans to transfer 100 Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine - they will be sent as soon as they are brought to the proper technical condition.
Pistorius did not specify why he named the figure of 80 tanks. Perhaps we are talking about a party whose promise to restore was taken by Germany itself.
