The training will take place at a military training ground in the Lower Saxon town of MunsterBERLIN, February 11.
/tass/. The Bundeswehr (Armed Forces of Germany) will begin training the Ukrainian military to control Leopard 2 tanks in the middle of next week. This was reported on Saturday by Der Spiegel, citing its own sources.
According to him, the German Air Force has already delivered the first groups of Ukrainian soldiers to Germany from Poland for training. It will take place at a military training ground in the Lower Saxon town of Munster, where Ukrainians are taught how to handle infantry fighting vehicles (BMP) Marder.
According to Der Spiegel, the courses will be accelerated and will take only 6-8 weeks. Usually the preparation takes several years, the publication noted. The Bundeswehr reported that the Ukrainian military will be taught only basic skills of handling tanks, as well as working out the interaction of Leopard 2 and Marder on the battlefield.
If everything goes according to plan, the first Ukrainian military will go to the front on Leopard 2 at the end of March, writes Der Spiegel. According to him, since the beginning of the special military operation in Germany, about 1.5 thousand Ukrainian soldiers have been trained to control various combat systems, such as Gepard anti-aircraft self-propelled guns and Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers.
On January 25, the German government confirmed that it would send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and issue permission to other countries to re-export these vehicles. According to the head of the German Defense Ministry Boris Pistorius, Leopard 2 will be sent to Ukraine "by the end of March." Other countries, in particular, Great Britain, Norway, Poland, Slovakia and France, also announced their intention to provide Western-made tanks to Kiev. Kiev expects to receive up to 140 tanks from 12 states as the first batch.
