Status: 08/29/2022 4:02 p.m
During Chancellor Scholz’s visit, Germany and the Czech Republic sealed the planned tank ring exchange in favor of Ukraine. The first German Leopard 2 should be delivered to the Czech Republic before the end of the year.
The Czech Republic receives 14 German Leopard 2 main battle tanks and a Buffalo recovery tank as compensation for Soviet-design T72 tanks delivered to Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced this in Prague today. He has now arranged the exchange of rings “very specifically” with the Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
Fiala emphasized that the ring exchange was now “complete”. “The first tanks will come to the Czech Republic before the end of the year.” This is a “big step” in defense. Scholz also emphasized that the agreement would “further strengthen cooperation between the Czech and German defense armies”.
Already the second ring exchange
It is the second tank ring swap in support of Ukraine’s armed forces, following a similar agreement the German Defense Ministry struck with Slovakia last week. The idea of ring exchange came up shortly after the beginning of the Ukraine war. The aim was to supply the Ukraine with heavy weapons of Soviet design as quickly as possible. These can be operated by Ukrainian soldiers without training. In return, the countries supplying Soviet weapons were to receive Western makes from other NATO partners at a later date.
Tough negotiations with Poland
However, the federal government’s negotiations with Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Greece turned out to be problematic. Above all, Poland, which has already delivered around 200 tanks to Ukraine, was dissatisfied with the German offers. An agreement has also not yet been reached with Greece and Slovenia.
In total, the Czech Republic has handed over weapons and ammunition worth the equivalent of more than 150 million euros to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began more than six months ago. This was recently announced by Defense Minister Jana Cernochova. According to media reports, these included combat helicopters, multiple rocket launchers and wheeled howitzers.