António Costa announced a week ago the sending of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, taking by surprise the military, who had understood that Portugal would only provide military training and would not send the tanks. The change of position of the head of the government was probably related to a report given the day before by Sunrise.
The sudden announcement by António Costa that Portugal will send three Leopard 2 combat vehicles to Ukraine in March surprised the military themselves. And this is because, according to Portuguese officials connected to this issue, the signals previously given by the Prime Minister were that our country would only provide the Ukrainian army with training in the use of these sophisticated vehicles.
With that announcement, Costa seemed to respond to a report given the day before by Sunrise, which stated exactly the resistance of the head of the Government to sending the German-made tanks stationed at Santa Margarida.
The position of the Minister of Defense, Helena Carreiras, was different, showing herself behind the scenes, from the beginning, in favor of sending Leopard 2 to the war scenario. In fact, this was the decision taken two weeks ago at a meeting of the so-called Ramstein group – a group of fifty governments allied with Ukraine (of which Portugal is also a member), which have been articulating ways of providing military aid to that country – and the Portuguese Defense Minister had already prepared the operation with her military advisors. They had concluded that Lisbon was in a position to supply three Leopard 2, model A6, from the batch of 37 it possesses at Santa Margarida. But everything was frozen at the level of the head of the government, who issued directives to only offer training to the Ukrainians in the handling of these complex war machines.
Carreiras ‘corrects’ Cravinho
That’s why, when Foreign Minister João Gomes Cravinho announced – right after Ramstein – that Portugal would be joining the international Leopard 2 coalition for Ukraine, Carreiras put water on the boil, stating that no decision had been taken yet.
The military source consulted by the Sunrise interprets that, as mentioned above, it was the news of this weekly newspaper that led António Costa to make, the next day, during a visit to the Portuguese contingent stationed in the Central African Republic, the announcement of the sending of tanks. The reasons for the Prime Minister’s change of position are unknown, but may have something to do with his concern not to make Portugal look bad in front of the allies.
The Sunrise once again confirmed that, as also reported in the previous edition, the Portuguese Army has no ammunition to accompany Leopard 2 in combat operations, having only material for exercises. For this very reason it has joined other countries in a joint operation to acquire real ammunition, through a NATO agency. The delivery date of the order is unknown.
