Rheinmetall says may send 139 Leopard tanks to Ukraine

Germany’s defense company Rheinmetall said on Tuesday it may send as many as 139 Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

"We have 22 [battle] tanks of the Leopard 2A4 type that we could get ready and prepare for sending to Ukraine," a company official said in an interview with Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. According to him, repairing those machines will take up to a year, so any supplies could take place in late 2023 - early 2024. And there are another 29 Leopard 2A4 battle tanks that will be ready for sending as early as this April-May, he said.

"We could also make 88 Leopard 1 [battle] tanks available," he added.