Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Tuesday evening that arms maker Rheinmetall had acquired the Leopard 1 tanks and would prepare most of them for export to Ukraine. Several of Kyiv’s Western allies agreed earlier this year to send modern Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine as well as older Leopard 1 models. He said he also could not disclose the price he was paid for the Leopards. He told Reuters he had now sold all 50 tanks to another European government, which he could not name due to a confidentiality clause. The clash highlighted a predicament faced by Western governments trying to find weapons for Ukraine after more than a year of intense warfare – arms they discarded as obsolete are now in high demand and often owned by private companies.įreddy Versluys, CEO of defence company OIP Land Systems, said on Tuesday that he bought the old tanks from the Belgian government more than five years ago. The German-made Leopards were at the centre of a public spat earlier this year after Belgian Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder said the government had explored buying back obsolete tanks to send to Ukraine but had been quoted unreasonable prices. Dozens of second-hand Leopard 1 tanks that once belonged to Belgium have been bought by another European country for Ukrainian forces fighting Russia’s invasion, according to the arms trader who conducted the deal.
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