Today, Denmark announced that it and the Netherlands have agreed to buy and transfer 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, as the partners had previously committed to providing the Ukrainian military with more heavy weapons (you can find an overview of these tanks by Yuriy Svitlyk here). And modern tanks have long been on Ukraine’s list of urgent needs in terms of military equipment.
“The Netherlands and Denmark today announce their intention to jointly purchase, refurbish and transfer 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine,” the Danish Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
Unfortunately, however, this is not a quick fix – the latest tanks will be delivered to Ukraine only “in the first quarter of 2024”. Their approximate cost is $180 million, and Denmark and the Netherlands will “equally share” this amount between them. “In this way, we will jointly participate in the Leopard 2 tank coalition, which is supported by many partners and allies,” the Danish Ministry of Defence added in a statement.
In a separate statement, Dutch Minister of Defence Keesa Ollongren said that “Ukrainian and European security are inextricably linked”. “For the hope of a peaceful and secure Europe, it is absolutely essential that we do not allow the Ukrainians to fight this battle alone,” added Acting Danish Defence Minister Trolls Lund Poulsen.
The tank coalition is already starting to work. In February, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands announced that they would pool resources to restore at least 100 old Leopard 1 tanks from industrial stocks and deliver them to Ukraine in 2023 and 2024. Also last month, Germany and the United Kingdom handed over 18 modern Leopard tanks and 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, respectively (for an overview of the British Challenger 2 tanks, please see our website here).
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