“We have given Ukraine a large number of armored vehicles,” the Polish president said. “While doing that, we have weakened our own military potential, and exhausted our own military stock.” Poland therefore hoped for support from Germany. Much of the arsenal of the Polish Armed Forces consists of German Leopard tanks.
“Had we had support from Germany, if we had gotten a replacement through an exchange, we would have been very happy,” said Duda. “We actually got such a promise and Germany promised to provide those armored vehicles.” Poland supports neighboring Ukraine in resisting the Russian invasion with Soviet-made T-72 tanks. Warsaw has already made it clear that it expects compensation from NATO allies, including Germany.
Germany already announced an exchange operation with the Czech Republic last week. Berlin will supply that NATO ally with fifteen Leopard-2 tanks. The Czech Republic will receive compensation for the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine.