Germany is very slowly replacing the Polish tanks delivered to Ukraine, so Poland feels cheated and counts on the help of other NATO partners.
This was stated to SPIEGEL by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk.
"German promises of a circular exchange of tanks turned out to be deceptive maneuvers," he said.
"Exchange of tank rings" was supposed to ensure the rapid delivery of heavy military equipment to Ukraine. Berlin offered its eastern partners in NATO to transfer Soviet-made tanks to Ukraine and promised that it would try to replace military equipment quickly."
Warsaw quickly handed over its stocks of T-72 tanks to the Ukrainians, and more than 200 old but effective main battle tanks were transported across the border.
Szynkowski wel Senck says that the Germans initially offered the Poles tanks "that were older than the ones we handed over to Ukraine."
"This proposal cannot be accepted because we are not interested in the deterioration of our weapons and in training our soldiers on the equipment of the 1960s," he stressed.
Now Warsaw prefers to talk to other NATO partners "who are really ready to help with this," the deputy minister said. According to him, Poland is already receiving US and UK tanks.
Earlier, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Poland sent Ukraine more than 240 tanks and almost 100 armored vehicles.
Recall that the Bundestag called on Scholz to supply weapons to Ukraine directly. The chancellor was repeatedly accused of delaying the supply of heavy weapons.
