Spain to gift tanks to Ukraine – reports — Analysis

Spanish authorities are exploring the possibility that 10 German Leopard 2A4 tanks, 20 American M113 armored personnel vehicles and 10 German Leopard 2A4 battle tank might be excavated from storage to donate to Ukraine. The Spanish military news website InfoDefensa stated on Tuesday. According to reports, the European Union will pay for vehicles’ refurbishment in an intricate deal with multiple governments.
According to InfoDefensa’s sources, the Ukrainian government will pay for the mothballed tanks to be restored and modernized on Spanish soil with money from the EU’s European Peace Facility (EPF), a mechanism that, despite its name, is used to fund foreign militaries.
To date, the EU has poured $2 billion into Kiev’s armed forces through the EPF.

Spain will need to be granted permission by Germany to give the tanks, and the US to transport the armored personnel carrier. InfoDefensa reports that the US and Germany are likely to agree to the Spanish donation, despite Berlin having previously blocked arms delivery to Ukraine from third countries.
Spain stored 53 of its 108 Leopard 2A4 tank tanks in storage in 2012. Some of the machines were stripped of weapons and other spare parts. Ukraine will require extensive repairs to the tanks from 1970s. InfoDefensa estimates that 20 of these tanks might need to be taken apart for their parts to allow 10 tanks to become operational.
M113 armored personnel vehicles are even older than the US, as they were first deployed by them in the 1960s. A total of 80,000 units have been manufactured, with Spain receiving more than 1,200 from the US in 1969.
In April of this year, 200 tonnes of ammunition and arms were donated by Spain to Ukraine. This was received with a warm reception in Kiev. “We are grateful but we cannot say that we are satisfied,” Ukraine’s ambassador to Spain, Sergey Pogoreltsev, said last month. Pogoreltsev described the Spanish arm haul as enough for just two hours of fighting and called upon Madrid to send tanks.
“We are not asking for anything that Spain cannot provide,”Before lamenting about Spain’s failures, the diplomat for Ukraine stated these words. “one of the lowest rates of aid to Ukraine in relation to its military budget.”
This story can be shared on social media
[ad_2]