Canada defence chief fails to comment on Leopard 2 tanks supplies to Ukraine

Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand has failed to give a specific answer to the question of whether Ottawa is ready to transfer the Leopard 2 tanks on its balance sheet to Ukraine.

"Each country at the table can make its own decision on the supply of tanks, and this can also happen in the case of Canada. We will continue to provide Ukraine with all possible assistance in the short and long term so that Ukraine is confident in our continued support," TASS reports, citing the defence minister.

Asked whether Canada will supply its tanks to Kyiv, she said that "today I have no news about this".

Earlier, Anand announced during her visit to Kyiv that Canada would transfer 200 Senator armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine. This military equipment is estimated to be worth more than $90 million and is included in an additional $500 million of military assistance to Ukraine, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in November 2022.

On January 19, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba issued a joint statement calling on a number of countries, including Germany, to present German Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv.

Before that, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, citing sources, reported that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed to provide Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine if the United States agreed to supply Abrams tanks to Kyiv.