For several weeks, Slovakia has not given permission to transport German-made weapons in need of repair from Ukraine. PzH 2000 howitzers, Gepard anti-aircraft guns and MARS MLRS got stuck at the border, Business Insider reports, citing sources in German government circles.
The publication notes that the company Kraus-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), on behalf of the Bundeswehr, in December 2022, created a repair center near the Slovak city of Michalovce on the border with Ukraine. They intended to repair damaged weapons. Now Slovakia does not allow weapons to cross the border, citing unresolved legal issues, including import duties.
According to Business Insider, the German Ministry of Defense is forced from time to time to transport weapons bypassing Slovakia, and this means extra hundreds of kilometers and a significant loss of time for repairs. It is already known that the Gepard self-propelled guns and the MARS MLRS will be partially repaired in Germany.
It is not entirely clear why Slovakia reacts in this way, despite the relevant government agreement. The German side admits that some legal issues related to the repair center were ignored due to the speed with which the agreement was concluded at the end of 2022.
— explained in Business Insider.
The publication assures that after the intervention in the situation of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Slovakia, they promised to soon open the border for damaged weapons.
Earlier, the French portal Forces Operations Blog announced the shipment of the first batch of AMX-10RC wheeled tanks to Ukraine. Together with the tanks, Ukrainian tankers trained in France are also going to the NVO zone. The first batch of tanks promised by Paris included 14 AMX-10RC units and the number of APU soldiers needed to work with them.
Source: TopCor News
