Leopards to Ukraine as Germany agrees to exports and re-exports

After months of pressure, the German government said on Wednesday it will send its coveted Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and that it will allow allies operating them to re-export theirs to support Kyiv’s war efforts. According to reports, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told a cabinet meeting that Germany would send 14 tanks.

Several European countries, including Poland and Finland, had said they wanted to send their Leopard 2s to Ukraine, but under export controls this required consent from Germany for re-export.  This consent was given on 22 January, when the German Foreign Ministry said it would allow Poland to send its Leopard 2 tanks – it followed an official request by Warsaw to re-export 14 tanks to Ukraine.

Mareike Heesing and Carsten Bormann, trade lawyers at the Cologne office of German law firm Oppenhoff, told WorldECR, ‘The decision of the German Chancellor is independent from the legal requirement of a (re-)export license. Therefore, Poland still needs to await the issuance of the respective reexport licence before sending any German-built Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.’

Germany had previously said it would only allow the Leopard tanks to go to Ukraine if the United States pledged to send in its own Abrams tanks, which it has now announced it will do.