German Leopard 2 tanks fail to deliver on Ukraine’s battlefield, report reveals PHOTO/VIDEO

Germany’s Leopard 2 tanks, a symbol of military strength, are failing to perform as expected on the battlefield in Ukraine, a classified German defence ministry report said.

The tanks, sent to Ukraine in 2023 after months of political debate, are facing serious operational challenges, particularly in the face of evolving warfare tactics, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

The report, which was based on a meeting between a German defence attaché and Bundeswehr soldiers in Kyiv, reveals that Ukrainian forces are encountering significant difficulties using the Leopard 2 effectively. The tanks, although a valuable addition to Ukraine’s arsenal, are vulnerable to drone strikes—a problem faced by all modern tanks. The Leopard 2’s complex design also hampers its repairability in the field, forcing damaged units to be sent to specialized repair crews in Western Ukraine or even Poland.

“The main problem with Leopard 2s given to Ukraine is that there’s too few of them. If one or two have to be repaired, that’s a big part of what Ukraine has that’s suddenly out of commission for a while,” said Sergej Sumlenny, managing director of the European Resilience Initiative Center. He added, “Leopard 2s were also not designed for the Ukrainian battlefield. They function well when they have good air support, but Ukraine is short on this.”

Sumlenny further pointed out that the tanks were designed by a generation of German manufacturers who had no direct experience of war, which resulted in overcomplicating the design. He argued that older systems, though weaker in armour, are proving more useful in the current conflict.

Defence experts in Germany are taking lessons from Ukraine’s experience, particularly in terms of military procurement. Sara Nanni, the German Green Party defence spokesman, stressed the need for more tanks and equipment, stating, “We can no longer think in such small quantities. We have to assume that vehicles have a long downtime after they’re damaged and simply need to be serviced.”

In addition to the Leopard 2’s shortcomings, the report noted issues with other German-supplied equipment, such as air defence systems suffering from inadequate ammunition stocks. The US-supplied Abrams tanks have faced similar maintenance challenges, with some being reported as destroyed or captured. Similar difficulties have been observed with British Challenger 2 tanks, highlighting the logistical burden of maintaining advanced military hardware in Ukraine.

By Vafa Guliyeva