Slovak Minister of Defense Jaroslav Nad' during his meeting with his German counterpart Christine Lambrecht stated that Slovakia is ready to hand a battalion of 30 T-72M tanks to Ukraine. In addition, some other armored Soviet-era equipment could go to aid the embattled country.
But for that to happen, Slovakia would like to receive compensation, in particular – the German-made Leopard 2s. The statement was reported by the Polish Defence24 web portal.
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Official Berlin has repeatedly assured in readiness to help Ukraine receive arms using the "ring exchange" (ringtausch) principle – a country of the former Warsaw Pact hands Soviet-era equipment to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and in turn, receives equipment from Bundeswehr.
Though German resource for such exchange is strictly limited, especially when it comes to tanks. In detail, Slovakia wants to get compensation in the form of 30 Leopard 2 tanks. This is as much as half of all German reserved tanks (78 units of Leopard 2A4), or 10% of all Bundeswehr tanks (245 units of Leopard 2A4).
Meanwhile, Slovakia says it's ready to provide also other kinds of Soviet-made armored equipment. The country has 148 units of BMP-1 and 91 units of BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles.
So how determined will Berlin stay in terms of keeping the promises to help Ukraine with arms – it is yet to be proven.
As Defense Express reported, Ukraine receives a lot of military aid from a wide range of countries amid the war of aggression russia started with an unprovoked invasion of Ukrainian territories in February 2022. The military aid supplies to the defending country include the supplies from Norway, the United Kingdom, Germany, the USA and many others.
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