Three Leopard 2A6 armored vehicles donated by Portugal to the Kyiv forces are already in Ukraine, the Portuguese Defense Ministry said on Monday.
In a note published on the social network Twitter, the Portuguese Ministry of Defense stressed that these tanks were delivered “as specified” with partners.
A Defense Ministry source explained to the Lusa news agency that Leopard 2A6s were brought to Kyiv along with German tanks.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday that Germany had delivered 18 Leopard armored tanks to Ukraine.
The weekly Der Spiegel previously reported that the tanks had already been delivered, as well as about 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles.
Der Spiegel added that Olaf Scholz’s government kept the “route” of the delivery secret “for security reasons.”
The German Ministry of Defense also confirmed the delivery of 18 Leopard 2 tanks, adding that the delivery of 100 Leopard 1 tanks, co-financed by Denmark and the Netherlands, is in preparation.
German defense chief Boris Pistorius said, quoted in a statement, that Germany’s original goal was to supply 14 Leopard 2s, but later added four more tanks.
Together with these armored vehicles, the necessary spare parts and ammunition were provided, the statement says, which also mentions the instruction received in Germany by the Ukrainian military on handling them.
After being pressured from all sides to send the Leopard 2s to Ukraine, the German government gave the green light at the end of January to send the tanks to Germany, with the shipment announced by Berlin “at the end of March, beginning of April. “.
The United States, in turn, agreed to supply Abrams-type tanks equivalent to the Leopard 2.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Monday that the first British Challenger tanks had arrived in Ukraine.
Oleksiy Reznikov said that British Challengers, American Strykers and Cougars, and German Marders have been added to the Ukrainian units.
Ukrainian ministry spokeswoman Irina Zolotar confirmed to Agence France-Press (AFP) that the Challenger tanks “were already in Ukraine,” without specifying their exact number at this stage.
The military offensive launched by Russia on February 24, 2022 on the territory of Ukraine has so far caused the flight of more than 14.6 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.1 million to European countries – from, according to the latest UN data, who classify this migration crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
At the moment, at least 18 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and housing.
The Russian invasion, justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security, was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia.
Since the beginning of the war, which entered its 397th day this Monday, the UN has presented as confirmed that 8,401 civilians have been killed and 14,023 wounded since the beginning of the war, stressing that these numbers are much lower than the real ones.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.