Canada has now delivered eight Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).
ZSU today on its Facebook page released photographs of Leopard 2 tanks being loaded and transported by a Royal Canadian Air Force CC-177 Globemaster III.
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The development comes as a senior Ukrainian defense official linked the timing of Ukraine’s upcoming counteroffensive against Russian-occupied territory to military aid by Ukraine’s allies.
Yesterday, Oleksi Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said in an interview with AP: “If we aren’t ready, then nobody will start unprepared."
According to Danilov, Ukraine’s allies are helping Ukraine to reach the level of equipment necessary for the start of a counteroffensive.
At the same time, the Secretary emphasised that sometimes the officials of allied countries “promise one thing and do a completely different one.” He did not specify what he meant by this.
In terms of Canada, it’s assistance is under the auspices of Operation UNIFIER, which is the Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) military training and capacity building mission in support of the AFU. It was launched in 2015 at the request of the Ukrainian government; in 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Operation UNIFIER was expanded and extended until March 2025.
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November, 12, 2024
Since the start of Operation UNIFIER, the CAF has trained over 36,000 Ukrainian military and security personnel in battlefield tactics and advanced military skills.
According to the Kiel Institute’s Ukraine Support Tracker, Canada is globally sixth in terms of military aid to Ukraine with some $1.38 billion dollars’ worth to date.
On March 15, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said before the tenth Ramstein format meeting of Ukrainian allies, that “the coalition of countries that are donating Leopard tanks to Ukraine continues to grow. And nine countries have now committed to providing more than 150 Leopard tanks.”
In the build-up to Ukraine’s expected offensive on Russian-occupied territory, it is not clear how many tanks and from which countries have now been physically delivered to Ukraine. On March 29, Germany confirmed the delivery of 18 Leopard 2As. Some reports indicate that 14 Polish Leopard 2As may have also now been delivered.
Russian psy-ops operations have begun to spread statements about how provided Leopards in Ukraine are failing.
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