Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki confirmed Monday that his government will formally ask Germany for permission to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, a day after German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock opened the door to such a delivery.
The tanks that Warsaw is offering to Kiev are of German manufacture, so it is theoretically necessary for Berlin to approve the shipment. Faced with Germany’s misgivings about this export to a third country, the Polish government even threatened to take action on its own.
«We have not been asked the question so far, but if we are asked, we will not object,» Baerbock said Sunday in an interview with French television LCI when questioned about what would happen if Poland were to deliver Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine.
Morawiecki picked up the gauntlet on Monday to confirm that he will submit a formal request, although the date of the request and when the final delivery of the tanks to the Ukrainian Armed Forces would be finalized remain to be clarified.
«We will certainly send the tanks, we will be in contact with the German government for this,» said Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, speaking after the meeting with his European colleagues in Brussels.
In this sense, he regretted that Berlin’s actions «can be more dynamic and firm» to authorize the re-export of this type of military systems and, without wanting to set deadlines, he insisted that Warsaw will provide its tanks to Kiev and is already in contact with other European countries to forge this military alliance.
For his part, Latvian President Egils Levits has asked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to speed up the process of sending such vehicles to Ukraine as soon as possible. «Everything necessary must be done,» he emphasized during an interview on German public radio.
Levits pointed out that sending Leopards to the battlefield will not only strengthen the combat capabilities of the Ukrainian side, but also «the security of Europe as a whole», recalling that this is a demand that has the approval of almost the entire continent.
In this sense, Levits questioned the doubts raised by Scholz to delay the permits to deliver and regretted that this is to the detriment of Ukraine, a country subjected to «strong pressures» which should not be denied these tanks, «If a country does not cooperate, of course it is a problem», he said.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
