Poland releases the first images of Ukrainians training with Leopard 2A4

@DefAviation ES 2·13·2023 · 18:30 0

The future crews of the Leopard 2A4 ceded by various countries to Ukraine are already training with these tanks in Polish territory.

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The President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, and the Polish Minister of National Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak, today visited Ukrainian soldiers who are already training in the handling of Leopard 2A4s at the Polish military base of Świętoszów, in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in southwestern Poland. That base is the headquarters of the 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade "Lieutenant General Stanisław Maczek" of the Polish Army. This unit received 116 Leopard 2A4 tanks from Germany in 2002, as well as several Fahrschulpanzer vehicles, the training version of that tank.

The Chancellery of the Polish Presidency and the Ministry of National Defense have published some images of this training. According to what the 10th Brigade reported last Saturday, for now the Ukrainian crews are being trained in 10 Leopard 2 tanks, which would have been donated up to now to the Ukrainian Army. Poland has not reported the origin of these tanks and the photos do not offer much information to determine it either, as we will see below. According to the Polish news agency PAP, Andrzej Duda has indicated that it will soon be possible to form a Ukrainian armored brigade.

In the images released today -the visit of the Polish president to that base was announced for 1:30 p.m.- up to 8 Leopard 2A4s can be seen, most of them in three-color NATO camouflage, a mimetic scheme used by Germany, Poland, Spain and other countries.

The Chancellery of the Presidency of Poland has issued the press conference by Andrzej Duda live on Facebook. In this capture from the broadcast video we can see a training Leopard 2 Fahrschulpanzer (the second from the left), with its characteristic glass cockpit. Surely this tank is one of those belonging to the 10th Armored Brigade. On the right we see a Leopard 2A4 with olive green paint and two black paint erasures. Could be the tank sent a few days ago by Canada, since those from that country wore this painting and precisely the Canadian tanks carry their national insignia, a maple leaf, painted on the turret in the place where the erasure appears.

All tanks appearing on the Świętoszów base maneuvering ground have their insignia covered or painted on. The license plates are also not distinguishable, so it is difficult to determine the origin of each of these tanks. Except for the one painted green, the others could be German or Polish.

In this other training photo we see two Leopard 2A4s with three-color camouflage and camouflage nets (this indicates that they could be German tanks, since the Army of that country usually uses camouflage nets on their vehicles ) and a well-camouflaged M577 command vehicle in the background to the right. It could be one of the M577s that the 10th Brigade has.

In this image published by the Ministry of National Defense there are 8 Leopard 2A4, in addition to the Leopard 2 Fahrschulpanzer and the M577 that we already saw above.

One of the few close-up photos of these tanks that have been published. We see four Leopard 2A4s and the M577 in the background. No detail is distinguished that allows determining its origin.

A Leopard 2A4 at the Świętoszów base training ground, with smokescreens in the background.

Poland has also shown photos of the Ukrainian tankers, but avoided showing their faces.

In the published images, Ukrainian soldiers wear the same work overalls worn by tankers of the Polish Army. Surely they will have been donated by Poland.

The Flag of Ukraine on the arm of one of the Ukrainian soldiers. As a curiosity, the design is very similar to the flags that Polish soldiers wear on their uniforms, with a black border.

Two Polish instructors (one of them wearing the black beret characteristic of the armored units of the Polish Army) with two Ukrainian soldiers on a Leopard 2A4. The license plate is not very clear, but it looks Polish.

Poland has also disseminated the training of Ukrainian soldiers in maintenance tasks of these tanks.

Polish instructors showing the engine of a Leopard 2A4 to Ukrainian soldiers.

Two Leopard 2A4s in the workshops of the 10th Cavalry Brigade. In the foreground we see the Ukrainian soldiers with a Polish instructor.

An enlarged detail of the previous photo. The two tanks that we see in the workshops are from the 10th Polish Brigade , as indicated by the winged hussars symbol on the turret of this Leopard 2A4.