Germany bought about fifty used tanks from Belgium to donate to Ukraine and thereby support Ukraine in the fight against Vladimir Putin’s Russia. These are 49 second-hand Leopard 1 tanks from private defense company Oip Land Systems. The same assets were at the center of a public debate earlier this year after Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder said the government was considering buying back tanks to Ukraine, but was offered unreasonable prices.
The conflict highlighted the difficulty of Western governments in finding weapons for Ukraine after more than a year of intense warfare: discarded weapons are now in high demand in the former Soviet country, as they are outdated by Western countries, and are often privately owned. by reselling them when market prices have risen.
Freddy Versluys, CEO of Oip Land Systems, had bought the tanks for 37,000 euros from the Belgian government, which was cutting defense spending. Adam told Reuters he had sold all 50 tanks to another European government, which he could not name due to a confidentiality clause, claiming he could not even reveal the price. However, the German newspaper Handelsblatt reported that the arms manufacturer Rheinmetall has bought the tanks and will prepare most of them for export to Ukraine. He said the tanks were transported to a factory for extensive maintenance. Some of the tanks will be used as spare parts and some will be repaired. It may take four to six months before they land on the battlefield in Ukraine.
A defense source told Reuters that the German government has paid for the restoration of 32 Leopard 1 tanks, which is part of a support package for the country that Germany announced at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July. Earlier this year, several Western allies of Kiev decided to send modern Leopard 2 tanks, as well as older Leopard 1 models, to Ukraine. Leopard 1 tanks have been produced by Germany since the 1960s, mainly by the German company Krauss-Maffei. The tank is lighter than the Leopard 2 and has a different type of main gun. Models sold by Versluys were last updated in the 1990s.
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Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
