Germany to Relocate Military Equipment Repair Centre for Ukraine from Slovakia to Its Own Territory by Year-End
After lengthy negotiations, Germany wants to relocate the large military equipment repair centre for Ukraine established in Slovakia to its territory. Initially, worn-out German military equipment was to be repaired in Poland, but then Slovakia was chosen. Now the repair centre there will also be closed and moved to Germany.
This was reported by Spiegel.
The repair centre is scheduled to be moved to Germany by 31 December.
‘The repair of Ukrainian weapons systems continues,’ the German Ministry of Defence assured.
The reason for this is ‘changing conditions and sometimes very difficult repairs that had to be carried out on damaged vehicles’. The German defence ministry may also consider the position of the Prime Minister of Slovakia (a NATO member) Robert Fico, who opposes military assistance to Kyiv, to be ‘changing conditions’.
The centre in Slovakia has been operating since the end of 2022 to repair Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers, Dingo wheeled armoured vehicles, MARS II rocket artillery systems and Gepard anti-aircraft tanks. The centre was opened in Slovakia to bring it as close to Ukraine as possible. It has constantly encountered difficulties, often artificially created, including due to different interpretations of European customs rules.
There are other German industrial repair facilities in Lithuania and Ukraine.