Berlin receives consent request for transfer of Leopards to Ukraine

The German government has already received a formal request from Warsaw for its consent to allow Poland to transfer some of its German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, the Polish defence minister said on Tuesday.

Poland wants to send around 14 tanks to Ukraine as part of a broader coalition of states willing to supply Leopards to Kyiv.

Germany, which holds the export license for the tank, has so far declined to agree to the Leopards being dispatched to Ukraine, which is a non-Nato state.

Writing on Twitter, Mariusz Błaszczak said: "Germany has already received our request to grant consent for the transfer of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. I also appeal to Germany to join a coalition of states supporting Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks. It is our common issue because it's about the security of the whole of Europe."

Last Friday, a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at Germany's Ramstein air base reached no agreement on the transfer.

The Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, told PAP at the weekend that in the event that consent from Berlin was not forthcoming, Poland would build a "smaller coalition" of countries ready to send Ukraine modern tanks.

"Ukraine and Europe will win this war - with or without Germany," Morawiecki said.