Polish President Andrzej Duda has expressed the expectation that Germany leopard– will deliver main battle tanks to Ukraine. Duda said on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he hoped Chancellor Olaf Scholz would make a corresponding announcement during his speech in Davos on Wednesday. “I hope that Germany will join this very good idea,” said Duda. His country has already delivered 260 Soviet-built tanks to Ukraine. Now Poland also wants 14 battle tanks of the type leopard 2 give to Ukraine. “In this way we will start a new chapter in supporting Ukraine,” said Duda.
When asked why he believed Scholz would give up his previously negative stance, the Polish President said Ukraine would do so if other NATO partners were willing Leopard-2supplying tanks, even Germany cannot avoid doing so. In addition, “the pressure in Germany and public opinion would become stronger, stronger and stronger”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/.” That’s why Chancellor Scholz will make this very necessary decision,” said Duda. Further military support for Ukraine is “an important element in the current situation”.
Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nausėda also expects the German government to give up its hesitant attitude towards supplying main battle tanks. “I firmly believe that Chancellor Scholz will make that decision,” said Nausėda in Davos. “We are in a situation where more support for Ukraine is needed.”
Even before talks about military aid, for which Ukraine’s western allies are meeting on Friday at the US base in Ramstein, some countries want to present their latest aid packages for Kyiv on Thursday in the Estonian Tapa. In addition to host Hanno Pevkur and his British colleague Ben Wallace, on whose initiative the meeting is taking place, the defense ministers of Poland, Latvia and Lithuania have confirmed their participation. Ten other countries, including Germany, have received invitations, according to the Defense Ministry in Tallinn.
Poland is also investing heavily in its own army. From this year until 2026, the country will receive a total of 366 from the USA abrams-Tanks of different designs. Last year, the US Army moved 28 abramstanks to Poland and trains soldiers on them.
Last year, Poland passed a so-called Homeland Security Act, which now makes it possible to invest up to three percent of gross domestic product in the defense budget. The army is to be expanded to 300,000 members, which means a doubling. According to the Polish Ministry of Defence, 16,000 people have already signed up for the new voluntary service, which includes one month of basic military training and eleven months of specialist training. According to Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak, the aim is for these volunteers to decide on a career in the professional army once they have completed their training.