Poland Sends 14 MBT Leopard 2 And 30 PT-91 Tanks To Ukraine, President Zelensky: Together We Will Win

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (Wikimedia Commons/Presidentt.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - Poland will send an additional 60 tanks to Ukraine, in addition to the 14 German-made Leopard 2 main combat tanks (MBT) that have been promised, the country's prime minister said in an interview with Canadian television on Thursday.

Warsaw, who has positioned himself as one of Kyiv's loyal allies, has urged Germany to send a Leopard 2 tank to Ukraine and allow other countries to do so as well, Berlin's request approved on Wednesday.

"Poland sent 250 tanks as the first country half a year ago or even more than that," PM Mateusz Morawiecki told CTV News.

In April last year, two months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Poland said it had sent tanks to help Kyiv withstand Moscow's attacks.

"Currently, we are ready to send 60 of our modern tanks, 30 of which are PT-91. And over those tanks, 14 Leopard 2 tanks, from what we have," he explained.

It is known, PT-91 is a Polish-made combat tank that started operating in the 1990s. It was developed from the Soviet Union's T-72 tank.

Responding to this announcement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Poland for the decision to supply additional tanks.

"Together we will win!," he tweeted, thanking the President Duda, PM Morawiecki and the Ukrainian people for their help.

Separately, Canada on Thursday announced it would send four Leopard 2 fighting tanks to Ukraine. Norway also said it would send Leopard, while Spain said it was open to providing it.

Ukraine says it needs hundreds of Leopard MBTs to expel Russia from its territory.

On Friday, Polish Deputy Defense Minister Marcin Ociepa told private broadcaster RMF FM it took about three months before the Leopard tank reached Ukraine.

"It depends on which country we are talking about, but I estimate we will talk about a quarter... until the tanks are actually in Ukrainian territory and at war," he said.