Canada will supply Ukraine with four Leopard 2 battle tanks in the coming weeks, Defence Minister Anita Anand announced on Thursday.."President Zelenskyy has specifically asked for tanks, and that is what I am here to discuss," said Anand. "This donation, combined with the contributions of its allies and partners, will significantly help the armed forces of Ukraine as they fight heroically to defend their nation's freedom and sovereignty.".The defence minister said that the "heavily armoured and highly protected" vehicles will provide Ukrainian soldiers with a tactical advantage, thanks to their mobility, firepower and survivability. "These tanks will allow Ukraine to liberate even more of its territory and defend its people from Russia's brutal invasion," she said..Anand said that a number of Canadian Armed Forces personnel will also be deployed to train Ukrainian forces with the skills needed to use the equipment..For weeks, Canada had been mute about the prospect of sending tanks to Ukraine. Just yesterday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada wouldn't be making an announcement on tanks, but said "we are looking very, very closely at what more we can do to support Ukraine.”.The German-manufactured Leopard 2 battle tank, which first came into service in 1979, has seen action in Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Syria. Canada acquired roughly 112 tanks from Germany in 2007, at the height of the War in Afghanistan..Canada's announcement comes a day after Germany and the United States both announced they would ship tanks to Ukraine. Germany will give Ukraine a total of 14 tanks from its own stocks, while the US will send 31 US-made M1 Abrams battle tanks to the country..Countries that have purchased Leopards are not allowed to export them to third countries without the permission of the German government. Germany, which has a post-World War II tradition of anti-militarism, was hesitant to ship tanks to Ukraine, fearing an escalation of the conflict with Russia. But mounting pressure from Germany's allies, as well as pressure from lawmakers within the country, caused it to reverse course..Ahead of Anand's announcement, Poland, which had called on the German government to allow other countries to export their tanks, called on Canada to export its tanks to Ukraine.."Modern tanks are very important, extremely important on this battlefield in Ukraine. So I do hope that Canada is going to be even more generous in Canadian supplies for Ukraine," Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said..Russia responded to the news of tanks being supplied to Ukraine by launching a new wave of aggressive rocket attacks against the country. While Russia initially had the upper hand when it invaded Ukraine back in February 2022, billions of dollars of military aid sent by the West have turned the tide of the war in Ukraine's favour..The US and Europe have repeatedly claimed that the shipping of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine "in no way" signifies the involvement of these countries or the alliance in hostilities in Ukraine. But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed that by supplying the tanks, the west is in "direct involvement" in the war."Everything that the alliance and the capitals I mentioned are doing is seen as direct involvement in the conflict. We see that this is growing," Peskov said.
