Portugal will provide Ukraine with main battle tanks

The Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa claimed that Portugal will provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with Leopard 2 main battle tanks and the recovery of some of these vehicles, which were stored, is under way with Germany, to counter the Russian invasion.

In a statement to Lusa press agency in Bangui, the Central African Republic capital, at the end of his visit to the Portuguese military mission in the country, António Costa claimed that sending the tanks to Ukraine will not jeopardize the Portuguese military capabilities.

"Portugal also has obligations under the NATO framework, of having equipment available for interventions in the event of a need, which it cannot keep from meeting", he stressed.

The Prime Minister recalled that Portugal sent war material, humanitarian material and offered humanitarian aid, namely taking in refugees.

"We’ve also been offering emergency assistance under the Ukrainian Budget and there are ongoing programmes with the Ukrainian Government to rebuild schools in a province. We also have the effort resulting from the repositioning of the military forces under the NATO framework, the consequence of which was the strengthening of the Western flank where Portugal is present, now reinforced, in Romania", he noted.

In the coming months, Portugal will post an Air Policing mission in Lithuania.