Germany is very slow to replace the Polish tanks already delivered to Ukraine. The Polish government feels deceived and wants to count on the help of other partners in the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO). This was reported by the German edition of Spiegel on Friday, July 22.
The Polish government accuses Germany of violating its word in connection with the supply of weapons to Ukraine.
"German promises of ring exchange of tanks turned out to be deceptive maneuvers," Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Andrzej Szynkowski vel Sek told Spiegel.
Poland considers itself deceived in the agreement, because after the Russian invasion it transferred to Ukraine its reserves of tanks Т-72. According to Polish information, more than 200 old, but very effective main battle tanks were transported across the border, the publication writes. It hoped that Germany would keep its promises and again increase the number of Polish armored units, since the ring exchange of tanks was to ensure the rapid delivery of heavy military equipment to Ukraine. Berlin invited eastern NATO partners such as Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic to transfer old Soviet-made tanks to Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised that Germany would try to quickly replace military equipment in order to ensure the defense capability of its partners.
In an interview with SPIEGEL, Szynkowski vel Sek said that the Germans initially offered the Poles tanks "that were older than the ones we handed over to Ukraine."
"This proposal cannot be accepted because we are not interested in deteriorating the condition of our weapons and training our soldiers on 1960s equipment," the diplomat said.
From Warsaw, they say that Lambrecht proposed to supply the Poles with 20 Leopard tanks of the older version as a replacement for the given weaponry, but only from the spring of 2023 and initially only one per month. In Berlin, they say that delivery is impossible before.
"We were offered a symbolic number of tanks. It is difficult to take this as a serious offer after we delivered more than 200 tanks to Ukraine in two months, so Poland prefers to talk to other NATO partners who are really ready to help us with this," said Deputy Foreign Minister Szynkowski vel Sek.
According to him, Poland already receives tanks from the United States and the United Kingdom.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on May 24, Polish President Andrzej Duda accused the German Federal Government of violating the agreements on the exchange of tanks, since the government in Berlin promised Poland Leopard tanks instead of Polish tanks sent to Ukraine.
On July 20, Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of the Bundestag from the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, said that Germany plans to start transferring Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine only from 2023.
On April 21, the German Ministry of Defense excluded all heavy weapons from the list sent by Ukraine.
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