Morocco has sent tanks to Ukraine to boost its counter-offensive against Russian forces, Algerian news outlet Menadefense has revealed.
Nearly 20 T-72B tanks were reportedly supplied to Kyiv’s forces, making Rabat the first African nation to send armored vehicles to the war-torn country.
According to the report, Czech defense firm Excalibur Army modernized the tanks before they were sent to Ukraine.
20 tanks were sent to the battlefield a week ago, after their modernization in the Czech Republic. The Kingdom of Morocco was the first in Africa to provide military assistance to our country. It is difficult to understand how Germany cannot send tanks pic.twitter.com/LTEUAu14w5
— Frédéric Provencher (@profcaillou) January 22, 2023
The first spotting of the Moroccan T-72B tanks being refurbished for the Ukrainian Army took place during a visit by Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala to the company’s Sternberk site.
The vehicles’ turrets were in the Moroccan Army’s original colors.
Morocco currently operates more than 140 T-72s, 130 T-72Bs, and 12 T-72BKs acquired from Belarus in 1999 and 2000.
‘Moral Imperative’
Last week, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said that providing Ukraine with high-performance tanks to fight Russia is a “moral imperative.”
It also sends a message that Western countries have the strategic endurance to continue supporting Ukraine “until the job is done.”
However, despite the growing number of countries sending armored vehicles to Kyiv, it is still waiting for German Leopard 2 tanks.
A decision on whether or not Berlin would finally heed Ukraine’s request was supposed to be released last week, but German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said his country needs more time.
“There are good reasons for the delivery and there are good reasons against it. And given the overall situation of a war that has been going on for almost one year now, all the pros and cons have to be weighed very carefully, and that assessment is explicitly shared by many allies,” Pistorius told reporters.
