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After weeks of pressure from allies, Germany has agreed to allow its state-of-the-art Leopard 2 tanks to be donated to Ukraine, in a marked shift from its leaders’ reluctance to significantly increase military support to help the country fight Russia.
Steffen Hebestreit, a spokesman for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, confirmed to NPR that Germany will send a company of 14 tanks, and that Scholz announced the decision during a cabinet meeting Wednesday morning. He called it the result of «intense consultations» with Berlin’s closest European and international partners.
Ukrainian crews will soon begin training on the battle tanks in Germany soon, Hebestreit said. Germany will also authorize other countries that have their own stocks of Leopard 2 tanks to export them to Ukraine.
On Tuesday, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius emerged from a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg indicating Germany was open to other countries with Leopard tanks training Ukrainian troops on how to operate them.
