"The maintenance hub in Gliwice has started operating. The first two Leopards have already arrived from Ukraine at the Bumar plant," Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
Tomasz Waszczuk/PAP

A maintenance hub for the Leopard tanks handed over to Ukraine has begun operating in the southern city of Gliwice, Poland’s defence minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, has announced.

During an April meeting of Nato defence ministers at the Ramstein air base, Germany, Blaszczak signed with his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, a letter of intent on the establishment of a servicing centre for the Leopard 2 tanks at the Bumar-Labedy military equipment producing plant in Gliwice.

“The maintenance hub in Gliwice has started operating. The first two Leopards have already arrived from Ukraine at the Bumar plant,” Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

The Leopard 2 is the main battle tank produced by the German concern Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. They are operated by the armed forces of many European countries, including by Poland and Germany. In recent months, the transfer of a number of these tanks to Ukraine, fighting against the Russian aggression, has become the subject of intense debate. Finally, a decision was made to provide Ukraine with two battalions of Leopard tanks in two versions – 2A4 and 2A6.

Poland has handed over 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine.