ISTANBUL

Spain plans a first shipment of main battle tanks to Ukraine which will include between four and six refurbished Leopard 2A4, government sources told local daily El Pais on Wednesday.

The final figure will depend on the state of 53 tanks stored for a decade at a military base in Zaragoza, the report said. The urgent rehabilitation of those tanks is being negotiated by the Defense Ministry and the military industry.

After Germany's long-awaited decision in late January to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, and also allow other countries to do so, Madrid also joined the countries which voiced willingness to supply Kyiv with tanks.

Defense Minister Margarita Robles said last week that Spanish officials would discuss with allies to determine how many tanks Ukraine needs and how many Spain can send.

Spain has one of the largest fleets of Leopard tanks – a total of 347. Most of them are the model Leopard 2E, made in Spain, but it also has more than 100 Leopard 2A4 that were purchased from Germany in 1995.

However, some of those tanks became inoperative after a flood at the military base in Zaragoza.

So far, the US announced it will supply 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine while Germany said it will send 14 Leopard 2 tanks and authorized other countries to transfer to Ukraine German-made tanks from their own inventories.

Norway, Slovakia, the UK, France, and Poland also announced they will provide Ukraine with armored vehicles.