Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Oleksii Makeiev is confident that sooner or later Berlin will transfer Leopard 2 battle tanks to Kyiv.
He said this in an interview with European Pravda.
According to Makeiev, the hope of transferring tanks is reinforced by work. He stressed that Ukraine raises the issue of supplying serious armored vehicles virtually from the first day.
"In March, the president gave the task to bring weapons to Ukraine. As a result, the Germans gave permission to send to Ukraine more than 60 BMP-1 that belonged to Germany and were in the Czech Republic. We then mentioned the Leopards at the negotiations - that is, it will soon be a year since Ukraine raises this issue," Makeiev recalled.
"But what is happening now is what Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Zeitenwende - that is, a change of eras. Changes of eras do not happen instantly, but we do everything to accelerate such a change. And I'm sure there will be the Leopards. It is better that this happens as soon as possible, but I am sure that it will be," the ambassador said.
At the same time, he referred to his own diplomatic experience and the fact that at first Germany refused to provide Ukraine with most of the equipment from the list, which included Panzerhaubitze 2000, Mars, IRIS-T, Pumas and Marders.
"Then the answer was "no," and now we see that a large number of positions from this list are already being supplied to us," said Makeiev.
Recall that earlier in the Bundestag they criticized Scholz's decision not to provide tanks to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Finnish parliament calls on the government to be the first in Europe to start supplying Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks.
Who we are: About us, Contacts. How we write news and our principles: Editorial code. We did our best. If you found this valuable – please support us.
To request a correction, please send an email.