According to the Belgian Business AM, the first Leopard 1 tanks were shipped to Ukraine on the morning of August 7. The buyer, who prefers to remain anonymous, purchased the tanks in Belgium.
These 50 tanks were previously withdrawn from the Belgian army several years ago. The army leadership decided to decommission heavy tracked vehicles in favor of light armored wheeled vehicles to save money.
However, during the sale of the equipment to Ukraine, these tanks were not included in the list of equipment to be supplied. According to Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder, the cost of restoring them was too high to justify putting them into service.
"Work has been done to patch them up again, but the company is now asking for up to 500 thousand euros per vehicle. I understand that the work is not free, but the margin is exaggerated," she said earlier.
It is interesting that the tanks were sold to OIP Systems at a price of only 15 thousand euros each, which can be called a symbolic amount. The army did not have enough space to store the decommissioned equipment, and so it was sold at a low price.
After a detailed reconstruction, the first technically upgraded units are now on their way to Ukraine via Germany and Italy.
It is not known which country is behind this purchase. So far, only Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands have announced the transfer of Leopard 1 tanks purchased from manufacturers to Ukraine.
