The Polish prime minister announced Monday that his country will seek Berlin's permission to deploy Leopard tanks to Ukraine, but it still intends to do so regardless of Berlin's response.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki noted that his nation "will still hand over our tanks, together with others" to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian government is counting on the Leopard 2 tanks, manufactured in Germany. Kyiv is reportedly anxious for heavy weaponry to stave off a predicted Russian attack in the following months that might change the Russia Ukraine War, per Financial Times.
Foreign ministers from the EU gathered in Brussels to put pressure on Berlin, which must authorize re-exports of the Leopard. Latvia's foreign minister stated "there are no good arguments" why the combat tanks couldn't be supplied, per Reuters.
As the anniversary of the Russia Ukraine War approaches, Western allies have talked about how to help Ukraine.
Germany Won't Block Tank Shipments for Ukraine
In response to Poland's plan to deploy Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, Germany's foreign minister Anna Baerbock said that Berlin "would not stand in the way" of Poland, according to the BBC.
However, Germany's export restrictions preclude other nations from providing armored vehicles.
Baerbock said on Sunday that Poland had not requested export approval.
On Sunday, the German official told French broadcast media LCI TV that, currently, they have not received any inquiries about the tank shipments, but if they were asked, Germany "would not stand in the way."
A German government spokesperson said it had not received any requests to authorize the supply of Leopard 2 tanks on Monday.
Morawiecki said last week that his nation was prepared to provide Kyiv with 14 Leopard 2 tanks amid the Russia Ukraine War.