Poland has offered to send a large number of Soviet-era PT-91/T-72 tanks to Ukraine in exchange for German-built Leopard 2 machines, the dw.com website reported.
Meanwhile, the German government’s stance on heavy weapons supplies to Ukraine amid the Russian invasion is still not clear-cut, dw.com said.
It cited Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper as reporting that it would be less problematic for the German government to send tanks to Poland than to deliver such weaponry directly to Ukraine.
But the Polish government is still waiting for the authorities in Berlin to approve such a deal, according to dw.com.
So far no decision has been made even though Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki held talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a visit to Berlin in late April, dw.com reported.
Scholz under pressure
Germany's governing SPD party has been criticised for tardiness by the co-governing Greens and the opposition conservative CDU, while lawmakers in the Bundestag recently voted overwhelmingly in favour of supplying heavy weaponry to Ukraine, according to dw.com.
Scholz rejected these criticisms in an interview with the Bild am Sonntag newspaper last Sunday.
"I take my decisions fast and in concert with our partners," he said.
"I find hasty actions and maverick German efforts questionable," he added, as cited by the Reuters news agency.
First German heavy weapons for Ukraine
Last week, Germany announced it would send Ukraine some of its Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, in what would be its first heavy-arms shipment to the war-hit country, according to dw.com.
Meanwhile, Poland in late April confirmed it had delivered more than 200 T-72 tanks to Ukraine.
Friday was day 72 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: dw.com, Reuters