(Reuters) – Slovakia will send 30 tracked infantry fighting BVP-1 vehicles to Ukraine as it will receive 15 Leopard tanks from Germany, Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad said on Tuesday.
Germany initially opposed providing Kyiv with heavy weaponry to help it defend itself against Russia’s invasion launched on Feb. 24, but then reversed its position and even sent some of its own weapons to Ukraine.
“I am very glad that Slovakia will be able to donate 30 BVP-1 vehicles and get from Germany 15 Leopard 2-A4 tanks,” Nad said after talks with German Defence Ministry State Secretary Benedikt Zimmer in the Slovak capital Bratislava.
Nad said the deal also included ammunition, spare parts and complex training.
Slovakia has already donated to Ukraine an S-300 air defence system, Mi-series military helicopters, self-propelled howitzers, and Grad multiple-rocket launcher rockets.
Bratislava has also hinted it might give to Ukraine its Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets, which it plans to ground this month as the Czech Republic and Poland have agreed to patrol Slovak air space.
(Reporting by Robert Muller; Editing by Gareth Jones)
