Upon the arrival of the weapons at the battlefield, Ukraine’s defense minister compared British tanks to Rolls-Royce automobiles.
Oleksii Reznikov approved of Britain after riding in the first Challenger 2 main combat tank to reach the war-torn nation.
I can say that even the driver of a Rolls-Royce will not be as comfortable as this team after personally “piloting” the Challenger, he commented on Facebook while posing with the tank.
He stated that Ukrainian paratroopers had dubbed the challenger a “war cat” and described the vehicles as “works of military beauty.”
In January, the UK government promised 14 Challenger 2 tanks in an effort to persuade other western countries to send weapons to help the Ukrainian army.
Reznikov confirmed they had finally arrived in Ukraine, posting a picture of the tanks flying their blue and yellow flag.
He wrote on Twitter: ‘It was a pleasure to take the first Ukrainian challenger 2 MBT (main battle tank) for a spin.
‘These fantastic machines will soon begin their combat missions.’
Ukrainian Defense Minister checks out Leopard tanks sent to Ukraine by UK
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In a video posted on social media, Reznikov personally thanked the UK defence secretary Ben Wallace for the tank.
He said in English: ‘Marvellous Ben. It’s very good stuff. Thank you very much from Ukraine to the United Kingdom.’
Rezkinov also posed with a variety of western tanks including challengers from Britain, Strykers & Cougars from the US and Marders from Germany.
‘A year ago, no one would have thought that supporting partners would be so powerful,’ he said.
‘That the whole civilised world will reboot and finally resist the bloody aggressor, the Russian terrorist country.’
He added: ‘A year has made a difference. Ukraine has changed the world.’
Germany’s defence ministry said on Monday 18 Leopard 2 battle tanks and 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles had also arrived in Ukraine.
‘Yes, we delivered Leopard tanks as we announced,’ chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Rotterdam. ‘We’re providing very modern [tanks] which we have now delivered.’
The cutting-edge main battle tanks were delivered after Ukrainian crews were trained to use them.
As well as the German and British vehicles, three Leopard tanks donated by Portugal also reached Ukraine, the security source confirmed.