MoD has given green light to donation of 10 Leopard 2A4 tanks and 20 M113 to Ukraine
Funding for its updating and modernisation on Spanish soil could come from the European Union’s European Peace Fund
The Ministry of Defense of Margarita Robles has given the green light to manage a possible donation to Ukraine of ten Leopard 2A4 tanks and a score of M113 armored personnel carriers, both from the army’s inventory, to defend against the Russian invasion of its territory.
According to sources consulted by Infodefensa.com, defense officials are currently exploring the possibility of ceding these systems, both in disuse, stored or not active, to the Government of Ukraine, in response to Kiev’s repeated request for more military aid to stop Moscow’s troops.
The decision would represent a turning point regarding the type of assistance that the Government of Pedro Sánchez has been willing to grant to Volodymyr Zelensky, since until now it had been limited mainly to defensive material, to the point of ordering the return of the 30 military trucks that transported 200 tons of ammunition last July from the port of Gdynia to the border with Ukraine. This decision upset the Kiev authorities who hoped to stay with them and even a shipment of more offensive material.
The operation to transfer this military equipment to Kiev, as reported to Infodefensa.com, is designed in a triangular way. Once the Leopard 2A4 and M113 are owned by Ukraine, the Zelensky government would finance their upgrade and modernization on Spanish soil with money from the European Union’s European Peace Fund. To do this, it would be necessary to sign a contract with Spanish companies. The last phase would be the transfer to the theater of operations.
Regarding the scope of the program in financial and temporal terms, it is premature to specify, the sources added, but the complete operation could represent at least between five and fifteen million euros, and the delivery period extend until the end of this year, depending on the ambition of the set-up and the difficulty of finding the necessary spare parts and system for both military vehicles.