Polish Leopard II tanks on exercises in 2022 (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Tobias Cukale)
WASHINGTON — New training programs in Poland could get some Ukrainian soldiers ready to operate Leopard 2 Main Battle Tanks in combat in as few as six weeks, experts told Breaking Defense, although officers and maintenance specialists would take longer. The tanks themselves could be another story.
But if all goes well, and if Berlin then allows its allies to send the German-made MBTs to Ukraine — a decision that Berlin has been waffling on — that means Ukraine theoretically could launch an armored counter-offensive in early March, just before the spring thaw known as the rasputitsa turns the open steppes into tank-bogging mud.