UK joins Poland in tanks for Ukraine initiative

Poland and the United Kingdom have already decided to hand over some of their tanks to Ukraine to help Kyiv in its war against Russia, an aide to the Ukrainian president has said.

"It is certain. Decisions have already been made," Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview with Voice of America's journalist Misha Komandovsky on Thursday.

"The quantity has not been decided yet," Podolyak added.

"In principle, it is already obvious that the logic of war inevitably leads to the fact that we will receive all the necessary weapons," he went on to say.

Poland's president, Andrzej Duda, announced in Lviv on Wednesday that Poland had decided to hand some of its German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine under a broader Western coalition.

"A company of Leopard tanks will be handed over as part of a coalition that is being built because, as you know, a large number of formal requirements, agreements and so on must be met, but primarily we want this to be an international coalition," Duda said.

Under Nato standards, a company consists of 14 tanks.

"The decision has already been made in Poland," Duda said as he expressed hope that more countries will soon join the effort.

Germany, however, controls the export licence for the Leopard so any decision to send the tanks to the Ukraine would require Berlin’s approval.

Also on Wednesday, the UK government confirmed it was planning to offer tanks to Ukraine. According to the Sky News broadcaster, Britain will hand over 10 of its Challenger 2 tanks.