German Minister urges progess on Polish repair centre for Leopard tanks

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Monday that work on a planned repair centre in Poland for German Leopard 2 battle tanks being used in Ukraine needs to progress more quickly.

"One thing must be clear: repairs are part of sustainable support for Ukraine," Pistorius said after talks with his Polish counterpart Mariusz Blaszczak in Zamość in south-eastern Poland.

Talks on the repair centre should be wrapped up in the next 10 days if possible, Pistorius said.

Pistorius and Blaszczak agreed in April to set up the repair centre.

The centre was to be set up by the armaments manufacturer Bumar-Labedy in Gliwice in Upper Silesia and was supposed to start work in May. But progress has ground to a halt.

According to a report by the German news magazone Der Spiegel, the German side considers the fees the Poles hope to charge for repair work to be overpriced. Pistorius spoke of "intensive, complex negotiations."

Later Monday, Pistorius plans to visit the Patriot missile contingent of the German Armed Forces outside Zamość and see their firing positions.

Around 320 members of the Bundeswehr have been deployed in Zamość since the end of January. They operate a total of three Patriot systems at two locations.

Zamość is not far from Poland's border with Ukraine, which has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for 16 months. The Patriot systems are supposed to protect Poland's airspace.

There was political wrangling between Berlin and Warsaw over their deployment. The then-German defence minister Christine Lambrecht agreed with Blaszczak to deploy German Patriots to Poland, but Blaszczak suddenly suggested that Germany would be better off stationing the Patriots in Ukraine. This caused considerable irritation in Berlin. Finally, an agreement was reached.

Blaszczak said Monday that he hoped that the deployment of the German Patriot air defence systems in Poland would be extended.

"We are interested in the Patriot systems remaining on Polish territory at least until the end of the year," Blaszczak said on Monday.

Blaszczak pointed out that with the transfer of Russian nuclear weapons and fighters from the Wagner mercenary group to neighbouring Belarus, the threat to Poland had increased.

Originally, the German Patriot batteries were only supposed to stay in Zamość until the end of June.