The Netherlands does not plan to supply Ukraine with 18 “Leopard 2A6” battle tanks, which the Netherlands leases from Germany, Dutch Defense Minister Kaisa Ollongren announced in the parliament on Thursday.
She said the German government had decided not to hand over these tanks to Kyiv and “it was a military consideration.”
Even if Berlin had allowed these tanks to be sent to Ukraine, “we still wouldn’t do it,” said the Dutch defense minister.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rite announced in January that his country was considering buying back the tanks leased from Germany to hand over to Ukraine.
This week it became known that the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany have agreed on cooperation to transfer to Ukraine about 100 “Leopard 1” tanks from German warehouses.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced after a meeting with his German counterpart in Kyiv that Ukraine will receive about 80 Leopard 1 tanks by the end of the year, but the first 20 of them should arrive “by the summer.”
