Spain hosted Ukrainian tank operators alongside Germany and Poland. The learning course on Leopard 2A4 started on February 16 at a training camp in Toledo and finished just today, on March 13.
Infodefensa reports that 40 personnel were educated overall, which is ten standard crews of four for ten tanks, and 15 more service and maintenance specialists. All of the Ukrainian soldiers had real combat experience, so their training was complete within relatively short terms, and focused only on the specifics of the Leopard 2A4 main battle tank and maintenance of it.
Read more: Spain’s Leopard 2 Were Stored In Poor Conditions, But the Country Will Do Everything to Supply Ukraine With Them As Soon As Possible
The instructors paid extra attention to the deployment of vehicles as part of a unit, something we have already heard before, as well as current repair and maintenance of the tanks. As noted, the educated troops would arrive in Ukraine by March 15.
As a reminder, Spain increased the number of Leopard tanks provided to Ukraine up to 10 after an initial announcement of 4 to 6 vehicles available. What's important, Madrid took care of the entire process of transferring the tanks. In addition to the training, Spain also sent the Leopard 2A4s taken from long-term storage to Santa Bárbara Sistemas (belongs to General Dynamics Land Systems) armor plant and refurbished them.
Still, it is unclear when the tanks themselves will arrive in Ukraine and whether the transfer of equipment is synchronized with the return of personnel to operate it. Earlier Spain announced it would deliver the tanks by the end of March, and back then, it was about providing six vehicles at that point. On the other hand, the same procedure took place in Poland, too, and first of the Polish tanks are already in Ukraine.
For that reason, we have a reason to believe that the first tank battalions may appear in Ukraine faster than initially expected.
Read more: Ukrainian Ground Forces' Commander Says the Situation Around Bakhmut Remains Difficult But the Defense of the Fortress Continues
