According to a Tweet published by the Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki on April 25, 2022, Poland confirms the supply to Ukraine of T-72 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) coming from its own military inventory.
Currently, the Polish army has a total of 606 main battle tanks including 142 Leopard 2A4, 105 Leopard 2A5 acquired from Germany, 232 PT-91 Twardy, Soviet-made 127 T-72A/T-72M1 in operational conditions, and 257 more in store.
On April the 26th, 2022, the head of the Polish Ministry of National Defense took part in the Ukraine Defense Consultative Group that was held in Germany. The conference, which was held with the participation of representatives of several dozen countries, chaired by the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, was devoted to discussing the current support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and long-term plans in this regard.
During the conference, the head of the Polish Ministry of National Defense pointed out, that the role of Poland in providing aid to Ukraine is very important, which was emphasized by many countries.
For years, Poland has been providing practical support to the Ukrainian armed forces. After Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, as an expression of our solidarity with that country, we provide free military aid from the resources of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Poland has provided Ukraine with weapons worth around $1.6 billion, citing information from the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
The T-72A is the second generation of Soviet-made main battle tank MBT in the T-72 family. The first version of the T-72 entered production in 1970. The main armament of the T-72A consists of one 125 mm (2A46) smoothbore gun. The 125mm can fire three main types of separate loading ammunition, APFSDS with a maximum range of 2,100 m, HEAT-FS with a maximum direct fire range of 4,000 m, and HE-FRAG(FS) with a maximum indirect fire range of 9,400 m.
The T-72M1 is an upgraded and export variant of the Soviet-made T-72A featuring minor changes including an additional layer of 16 mm armor plate on the glacis plate and combination armor in the turret with pelletized filler agent.
The armament of the T-72M1 is similar to the T-72A including a 125 mm (2A46) smoothbore gun fitted with a light-alloy thermal sleeve and a bore evacuator.
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