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June 12 () –
Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andri Melnik has called for more German-made tanks and armored vehicles, stating that “every Leopard 2 is literally worth its weight in gold” and that Berlin could do more without risking its own security.
“The Ukrainian Army desperately needs more Western main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other armored vehicles… Each Leopard 2 is literally worth its weight in gold for an offensive,” Melnik told the German newspaper Tagesspiegel.
Melnik, the former Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, has assured that the German Armed Forces are prepared to increase the number of tanks transferred by up to three times without jeopardizing their defense capacity, as well as to send another 60 Marder infantry fighting vehicles.
Melnik’s demands have not stopped there and he has recalled a request to the German side, still unanswered, to transfer to Ukraine ten percent of the inventory of Puma armored personnel carriers, Boxer armored personnel carriers, Fuchs armored personnel carriers, or armored personnel carriers Fennek.
On the other hand, he also wanted to highlight the “strategic decision” of Germany to actively participate in the coalition of combat aircraft proposed by the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, thus allowing Ukrainian pilots to train in the management of Eurofighters , further contributing a portion of the more than 130 such aircraft that have been promised to Kiev.
