Scholz did not agree with Slovakia, there will be no Slovak T-72s for Ukraine
Bratislava considered that 15 ‘Leopards’ instead of 30 T-72 tanks is an unequal exchange
For two months, the German government and the Slovak government failed to agree on the supply of T-72 tanks to Ukraine, which was to take place under the ‘ring exchange’ mechanism (aka ringtausch). This is stated in the publication of the portal Business Insider.
The reason for this failure is actually quite simple. When Germany and Slovakia began negotiations to supply tanks to Ukraine in May, the conditions were as follows: the Slovaks gave us all 30 T-72M tanks currently in their army, while the Bundeswehr handed over 30 Leopard 2 tanks to Bratislava.
It seems that the German side has seen – to meet the conditions of Slovakia, will have to take away from the Bundeswehr 10% of all Leopard 2 tanks in service. Therefore, the German government later told its Slovak counterparts that it could give only 15 Leopard 2A4 tanks instead of 30 T-72M tanks. Slovakia was not satisfied with this format of exchange.
Now Bratislava is looking for other ‘schemes’ of possible supply of armored vehicles for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
