Ukraine will receive a company of German Leopard tanks from Poland. This decision has already been made, it was taken within the framework of the creation of an international coalition, Polish President Andrzej Duda said during his visit to Lviv.
"A company of Leopard tanks will be transferred to Ukraine in the framework of an international coalition creation. Poland already has this decision," the President's Office quoted Duda.
Prezydent @AndrzejDuda w #Lwów: Kompania czołgów Leopard dla Ukrainy zostanie przekazana w ramach budowania koalicji międzynarodowej. Taka decyzja jest już w Polsce.
— Kancelaria Prezydenta (@prezydentpl) January 11, 2023
At the briefing, Polish President said that he and his Lithuanian counterpart Gitanas Nauseda had arrived in Ukraine to discuss support for Ukrainians.
"We talked about direct support... But we are also discussing military assistance from Poland, Lithuania and other countries to help Ukrainian soldiers in defending the state," he said.
Duda recalled that Poland was the first country to provide a wide range of assistance: 240 tanks, hundreds of thousands of ammunition, rifles, small arms, Crab howitzers, which played an important role, as well as MANPADS.
"We know what the Russian occupation is. For 123 years we have not had our own statehood because of Russia, we understand very well what the Russian occupier is," Andrzej Duda emphasized.
He added that Poland would continue to supply weapons to Ukraine and provide political assistance. Duda stressed that the occupiers must be stopped, otherwise, they will continue to destroy Ukrainians. That is why NATO countries should provide Ukraine with modern weapons.
At a joint briefing with his Lithuanian and Polish counterparts, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the decision to provide tanks.
Ukraine has been emphasizing the need to provide tanks to the defence forces for a long time. So far, no country has given Ukrainian defenders modern combat tanks.