Polish president hopes Leopard brigade for Ukraine ready soon
Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, has said he hopes a brigade of Leopard tanks will be ready within a month for Ukraine.
Poland has offered a number of Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine and other countries have also committed their own Leopards. The Polish government has also said it would send 60 T-72 tanks.
"I hope that the formation of a brigade of Leopard tanks will be completed, and that it will be ready to operate within a month, and that it will be ready to defend Ukraine," the president told a state-owned Polish public television programme on Thursday night.
Asked whether he was satisfied that Poland had managed to encourage a number of countries to donate Leopard tanks to Ukraine, Duda said that he was.
"Yes, I am glad, but I also thanked today the British prime minister as Great Britain had announced its decision to send Challenger tanks to Ukraine nearly at the same time as we did," the president said.
He added that the decision to donate tanks by Germany was important because the Germans would send the latest version of the Leopards.
"Germany's participation is of fundamental importance... the tanks offered by Germany are state-of-the-art, this is the A6 version, the latest one," Duda said.
The president also said that the training process was underway.
"Ukrainian tank crews are being trained in Poland, also with the participation of Canadian and Norwegian instructors," Duda said.
But Duda said he was cautious about sending F-16 fighter aircraft to Ukraine.
"Let us not forget that we have only 48 F-16 planes," he said, adding that it was possible today to discuss the sending of MiG-29s.
The president added that it would be much easier for Ukrainian soldiers to operate post-Soviet aircraft rather than Nato-standard aircraft as they demanded extensive training.
"As far as MiGs-29 are concerned, we can hold talks with Ukraine even today," the president added. (PAP)
