Ukrainian soldiers to start training for German Leopard 2 tanks

MOSCOW

Ukrainian troops will start training to use German-made Leopard 2 tanks, the country's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Saturday.

"We have a breakthrough, we got an opportunity, the countries that own Leopard will start training missions, courses for our tank crews," Reznikov said in an interview with the Ukrainian service of Voice of America.

This was "a start point for moving forward," Reznikov noted, adding that meanwhile, Germany got the time to "calmly reach a decision" on the transfer of tanks after internal consultations.

"I am optimistic about this, because the first step has been taken, we will start training programs on Leopard for Ukrainian crews," he said.

The defense chief said the agreement on training was reached thanks to Poland and the UK.

Ukraine's allies on Friday pledged further military support but failed to iron out divisions on sending battle tanks to the embattled country during a high-level meeting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.