German Government Spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, said he was taken aback by the statement of Polish President Andrzej Duda, who said that he was disappointed about Berlin’s breach, the Deutsche Welle channel reported on Wednesday.

Hebestreit said Poland sent Soviet tanks to Ukraine and asked to participate in the circular exchange mechanism that Berlin has implemented, for example, with the Czech Republic.

At first, we agreed to do it, but we have to analyze what we can supply, the spokesman said and added they told Warsaw that they could not send Leopard-2 tanks as they requested, as there were only a few.

After this, there were critiques on Polish media outlets last week, and on Tuesday, President Duda repeated those arguments on TV, Hebestreit said.

Last month, the Czech Republic donated several dozens T-72 tanks and armored vehicles to Ukraine and, in return, it will receive old Leopard tanks from the German Armed Forces that have not been used and must be refurbished.

Hebestreit noted that Germany has only 50 state-of-the-art Leopard-2 tanks, so the government says none can be handed over.

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