Poland and Germany have reached an agreement for the construction of a servicing and maintenance hub to repair Leopard 2 tanks as part of a military aid package for Ukraine.
The hub to service the German-made vehicles will be based in Poland, Mitko Muller, spokesman for the German defense ministry, confirmed in a press conference on Monday.
Muller stated that it is likely the more modern versions of the Leopard 2A5 and 2A6 tanks will in the future also be repaired outside of Germany.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak revealed last week that a servicing and maintenance center for Leopard tanks had opened in the Bumar-Łabędy plant in the Upper Silesia region of Gliwice.
Earlier, German media had informed of a breakdown in negotiations between Poland and Germany as a result of haggling over costs. But both the German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Błaszczak were adamant that the project would go ahead.
Some Ukrainian tanks have already reached Poland and are in the process of being repaired.
Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu has claimed that Russian forces have destroyed 16 Leopard tanks that had been supplied by Poland and Portugal. He also asserted that the Ukrainian army has failed to reach any of the objectives it has set itself in its counteroffensive.
He commented that the effectiveness of “famed Western weapons” had been overestimated.
