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Pistorius in Kyiv
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) traveled to Kyiv without prior public notice.
According to a spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Pistorius met the Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Reznikov posted a photo on Twitter showing him with Pistorius and a model tank, and wrote, "The 'first' Leopard-2 has arrived in Kyiv."
"The armored coalition marches on...to victory," Reznikov continued.
According to the dpa news agency in Kyiv, Pistorius announced that Ukraine was to receive more than 100 older Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks from a group of several European countries.
At least three battalions should be equipped with it by the first or second quarter of 2024.
Pistorius thus partially confirmed a SPIEGEL report according to which the German government intends to deliver significantly more Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine than previously known.
Accordingly, earlier this week the Federal Security Council approved the export of a total of 178 Leopard 1 main battle tanks to Ukraine.
More soon at SPIEGEL.de
fek/dpa/AFP
