Berlin has given German protection business corporations permission to export older Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine, the German media reported on Friday, citing authorities spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.

The official confirmed to journalists {that a} related export license was granted, with out offering any additional particulars.

“I don’t wish to say far more in the mean time,” Hebestreit advised journalists throughout a authorities press convention on Friday, in line with Der Spiegel weekly. The official additionally stated that additional clarifications on the difficulty could be offered “inside the coming days or even weeks.”

Rheinmetall, certainly one of Germany’s prime arms producers, advised sending Leopard 1 tanks from its shares to Ukraine as early as April 2022. On the time, the corporate acknowledged it might provide as much as 50 tanks to Ukraine inside simply six weeks if granted the federal government’s approval. The corporate additionally added that it was nonetheless checking on the situation of the tanks in the mean time.

In mid-January, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger advised the tabloid Bild that it might take a very long time to organize the Leopard 1 tanks for potential export to Ukraine even when the corporate bought a related license “tomorrow.” The tanks had been “fully disassembled and constructed anew,” he stated. In line with Papperger, the supply may take as much as a yr.

Der Spiegel reported on Friday that there have been 29 Leopard 1 tanks largely prepared for supply, which had been being saved by one other protection producer – the Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft (FFG). Nevertheless, each Der Spiegel and SZ newspapers cited an absence of ammunition for the tanks in reference to the potential supply.

Each Rheinmetall and FFG stated they might doubtlessly provide dozens of Leopard 1 battle tanks to Ukraine, however provided that Kiev was prepared to purchase them, SZ reported. Earlier, Rheinmetall stated that overhauling the heavy tools would value tons of of tens of millions of euros – a price it couldn’t cowl by itself.

Earlier, Berlin additionally vowed to ship 14 fashionable Leopard 2 foremost battle tanks out of the military’s stockpiles to Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly criticized the West for supplying weapons to Ukraine, arguing that they solely served to delay the battle and human struggling.

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