The same briefing slide said 32 Leopard 2 tanks (from Germany, Canada and Poland) would be in Armed Forces of Ukraine hands by the end of April. The recent leak of a late February US military intelligence briefing on Ukraine’s offensive preparations, listed 53 tanks of unnamed type set to enter the Ukrainian military with delivery dates at the end of March, April and “unknown”. Other Danish media reported Ukrainian troops should begin receiving the tanks by the end of April – theoretically in time for Ukraine’s long-awaited Spring offensive. The vehicles were in long-term storage and needed repair and maintenance before being serviceable for combat, but, they did not require upgrading and “Ukraine is screaming for tanks,” OLFI wrote in a February 1 article.Īn initial 20-tank batch of 20 of the Leopard tanks would be ready for shipment to Ukraine “in a few months,” to be followed by more deliveries as additional vehicles were returned to operational status, the OLFI report said. According to a February 7 article, in the Danish mainstream newspaper Jyllands-Posten, Denmark, Germany and Netherlands will coordinate and finance the repair and transfer of at least 80 tanks to Ukraine. The exception would be a rare face-to-face engagement against late-model Russian tanks, whose thick frontal armor the Leopard I’s main gun might not always penetrate, military observers said.Īccording to the Danish online news platform OLFI, in February a German company called Flensburger Farhzeugbau Gesellschaft was holding 99 Leopard 1A5 tanks in a depot across the border from Denmark, as reserve vehicles for the Danish Army. A Ukrainian crew operating the older Leopard should be able to shoot first, hit, and destroy almost all current Russian armored vehicles, at any range. Compared with Leopard 2, the Leopard 1 has a smaller cannon and weaker armor, but comparable fire control and gun accuracy.
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