Western allies will not be able to supply Ukraine with two full battalions of Leopard 2 tanks, as previously promised, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said, Bloomberg reports.

Only Germany and Portugal have pledged to send the A6 version of the Leopard 2 main battle tanks, with 14 tanks pledged by Berlin and three by the Portuguese government, Pistorius told reporters after a meeting of NATO ministers in Brussels. “We’re not going to go battalion size,” he said.

A standard Ukrainian battalion consists of 31 tanks.

Meanwhile, Poland, Norway, Canada, Spain and Finland have managed to deploy a battalion of Leopard 2, an older A4 model, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said, as quoted by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

However, according to Pistorius, many of these tanks are in poor condition and need repairs before they can be shipped.

Stocks of ammunition for the Gepard combat systems used by Ukraine are “very sufficient,” the German Defense Minister said in Brussels. “They should arrive by summer,” said Boris Pistorius.

Germany signed contracts with the Rheinmetall company to resume production of ammunition for Gepard anti-aircraft guns, which it supplied to Kyiv.

The Leopard 2A4 tank battalion will arrive in Ukraine only at the end of April, the minister added.

On Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands are part of the coalition of countries working on supplying Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks.

However, later in the day, the governments of the Netherlands and Denmark announced that neither country would supply Leopard 2 tanks, German news source Welt reported. The Netherlands returned on Wednesday and said that it has not changed its position on the possible supply of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine

Tanks are delivered to Kyiv as soon as possible – Borel’s appeal

The EU’s top diplomat urged other countries to join Germany in sending tanks to Ukraine in an interview published on Wednesday, after media reported that Denmark and the Netherlands said they would not supply Leopard 2 battle tanks, as Berlin is doing.

“Countries should deliver as many tanks as possible and as soon as possible. It would be very unfortunate if, after so much time pointing the finger at Germany for not doing anything, these countries would now not follow suit,” EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell told the German broadcaster Phoenix, according to Reuters.

Equipment and spare parts

Britain and other European countries will supply Ukraine with military equipment, including spare parts for tanks and artillery shells, through an international fund, London said on Wednesday.

The United Kingdom has agreed with the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Lithuania to send an initial support package to Ukraine with an estimated cost of more than 200 million pounds ($241 million), the British Ministry of Defense said.

“This package of equipment will provide a significant increase in the capability of the armed forces of Ukraine and support their ability to defend their country,” Defense Secretary Wallace said after a meeting with his NATO counterparts in Brussels.

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