Germany is setting up a center in Slovakia to repair and provide maintenance of weapons and military equipment, provided by the Federal Republic of Germany to Ukraine as military and technical assistance to defend against the Russian invasion.
Christine Lambrecht, Minister of Defense of Germany, shared about this.
Today in Brussels, the Head of the Bundeswehr announced their further steps to support Ukraine.
“We have reached an agreement, and work can begin immediately so that all the equipment delivered (to Kyiv) could be repaired upon withdrawal from the battle,” Lambrecht told the reporters.
Christine Lambrecht also commented on the training of Ukrainian defenders abroad. According to her, by June 2023, Berlin plans to conduct training for approximately 5,000 military personnel in Germany as part of the European Union’s training mission.
Her words confirm Germany’s previous plans regarding training for the Ukrainian military.
At the beginning of October, it was reported that Berlin is considering repairing the transferred to Ukraine Panzerhaubitze 2000 in Slovakia.
The German government was working with the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) manufacturer to establish a repair center in Poland not far from the Ukrainian border.
These plans, however, could not be implemented, as Poland insisted that this repair would be handled by its state-owned company PGZ. To carry out the work, the company would have to receive confidential information from the manufacturer regarding Panzerhaubitze 2000.
German defense industry representatives did not like this idea. They do not want to share the specifics of their technologies with a foreign manufacturer due to competition in the market. Therefore, KMW and the German Ministry of Defense have been negotiating with Slovakia to deploy a repair base there.
According to Spiegel, the center will start its work before the end of the year. The deployment of such repair facilities has a long-term perspective, as Ukraine is increasing the number of Western weapons that will require repair.
As previously reported, some of the Ukrainian Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers are already being repaired in Lithuania.
Source: mil.in.ua