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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Pjotr Sauer and agencies in Brussels

EU country buys 49 secondhand Leopard tanks for Ukraine, arms dealer says

Leopard 1 A5 tank.
A Leopard 1 A5 tank. A ‘major German defence player’ is believed to have bought the Leopards. Photograph: Morris Macmatzen/EPA

Dozens of secondhand Leopard 1 tanks that once belonged to Belgium have been bought by a major European country for the Ukrainian army fighting Russia, according to the arms trader who sold them.

Freddy Versluys, CEO of the private defence company OIP Land Systems, told the Guardian that he sold 49 tanks to another European government, which he could not name due to a confidentiality clause. He said he also could not disclose the price. Versluys added it could be up to six months before they were on the battlefield in Ukraine.

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