German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on Monday called for better progress in setting up a repair center for Leopard 2 tanks sent to Kiev, in Polan
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd July, 2023) German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on Monday called for better progress in setting up a repair center for Leopard 2 tanks sent to Kiev, in Poland.
"I think time is running out. Germany is ready to take responsibility, one way or another. That is why we expect that the negotiations should be completed within the next ten days," Pistorius told a press conference with his Polish counterpart Mariusz Blaszczak, uploaded by the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
Pistorius is visiting Germany's Patriot anti-aircraft contingent in southeastern Poland.
In mid-June, Polish envoy to NATO Tomasz Szatkowski said that Warsaw and Berlin were planning to set up a repair center in Poland's southern city of Gliwice in the near future. Szatkowski said Poland was also interested in servicing US-made Abrams tanks.
Ukraine's much-touted "counteroffensive" kicked off in early June after months of delays over alleged lack of military supplies from Western donors. After encountering stiff Russian resistance, Ukrainian commanders largely held off sending Western tanks into battle, focusing instead on making targeted strikes, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday that Russian armed forces had destroyed 920 Ukrainian armored vehicles, including 16 Leopard tanks, in the Donbas and Zaporizhzhia regions in June.
