As of: January 22, 2024, 8:18 p.m
By: Bettina Menzel
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A Leopard 2 tank on the training area in Augustdorf near Bielefeld in February 2023 (symbolic image).
© IMAGO/David Inderlied/Kirchner Media
The Leopard-2 are among the most modern battle tanks in the world.
In the event of a hit, they usually protect the crew.
But only a few models are still operational in the Ukraine war.
Kiev – Some Leopard 2 main battle tanks are currently waiting to be picked up in an unspecified area of forest in Ukraine for confidentiality reasons.
The vehicles were badly battered, damaged and partially riddled with dirt during the Ukraine war.
Now they have to go for repairs, but their crew is fine.
This is due to the special design of modern battle tanks.
Ukraine War: Leopard 2 tank hit by shell, but crew safe
German Leopard tanks have their own chamber for ammunition.
If they are hit, it usually does not result in a total loss, which often makes repairs possible.
The television station
ntv
reported from Ukraine about a so-called service point where the broken vehicles are waiting to be picked up.
The crew of one of the damaged battle tanks - Commander Roman and his troops - had come under fire at the front.
Among other things, a 120-millimeter grenade hit the cooling system of the Leopard 2 tank.
“But we were still able to reach our position without any problems.
The German armor really saved us and the crew was not injured,” the commander told
ntv
in the post published on Wednesday (January 18).
But now the tank can only be repaired in the factory.
However, it is located in Lithuania.
The original idea was to bring the damaged vehicles back to the front more quickly by repairing them in Poland, Romania or Ukraine.
Ultimately, the tanks continued to be repaired in Lithuania.
Getting there is a complicated path that takes a lot of time.
“It would of course be much better if we could repair everything here in Ukraine,” said the commander.
“That way we could do without all the paperwork for the border,” Roman commented further.
“If we had everything here, including spare parts, we could save not just days, but months,” warned the Ukrainian.
Repair of damaged Leopard 2 tanks in Lithuania: spare parts are apparently missing
Ukraine has received over 70 Leopard 2 tanks from the West since the Russian invasion began.
It is not publicly known how many of these are still ready for combat use.
At the beginning of the year, however, there were reports that a large proportion of the Leopard 2A6 tanks supplied by Germany to Kiev were no longer operational.
The majority of the damaged Leopard tanks were recently waiting for repairs in a Lithuanian workshop.
The problem: The spare parts are missing.
“I expect the federal government to ensure that the supply of spare parts becomes significantly better,” commented Green Party politician Anton Hofreiter critically.
In Commander Roman's unit, three out of four tanks were recently not operational, as the troops reported.
Either because they were hit in combat or because of technical problems.
Proper tank maintenance is a challenge even for the Bundeswehr in peacetime.
In times of war, maintenance cycles can hardly be adhered to and operation is not always correct.
Anyone who has to flee from the enemy hardly pays attention to the ideal speed.
This contributes to the failure rate.
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In addition, there is also a lack of training for Ukrainian technicians, the defense budget expert Sebastian Schäfer (Greens) recently criticized.
The expert suggested that providing instructions and better training could help here.
For his part, Commander Roman also has suggestions for improvement: “The armor could be even more effective and modern and we need new defense systems.
Because during the war, new anti-tank weapons were constantly being developed.
We just have to react to that,” said the Ukrainian military officer.