Ukraine's state-owned defense conglomerate Ukroboronprom announced on April 8 that it would launch joint maintenance of Soviet-era T-64 tanks with a unit of state arms producer Polish Armaments Group (PGZ).
The agreement, signed by Ukroboronprom and PGZ's arms manufacturer Bumar-Labedy, kicks off a Ukraine-Poland partnership to repair and maintain T-64 tanks in the city of Gliwice in southern Poland.
The Telegram post published by Ukroboronprom said that it was planning to expand the maintenance cooperation program in the future by adding T-72 and RT-91 tanks to the list. According to the statement, a similar maintenance program for the Leopard 2 tanks, a bulk of which has already arrived in Ukraine, is also under discussion.
"Our company is ready to create a hub for the repair of armored vehicles that are in service with the Ukrainian army," Edita Shymanska, the president of the board of Bumar-Labedy, said, as quoted by the press release.
The deal brokered between Kyiv and Warsaw, which President Volodymyr Zelensky recently visited, holding talks with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda, comes as Ukraine faces the challenge of repairing its tanks damaged by Russian fire amidst the ongoing war.
A few days earlier, Ukroboronprom said that it had reached an agreement with a Polish state defense enterprise, also part of PGZ, regarding the co-production of 125 mm tank shells.
Poland is the second NATO country after the Czech Republic with whom Ukroboronprom reached an agreement on co-production in the defense sector.
Igor Kossov
