No sooner had the federal government announced the delivery of battle tanks to Ukraine than videos showing the transport of tanks appeared on social networks. Tenor: Here, look – the delivery for Kyiv is already on its way. What the clips are actually all about.
Claim: There are already trains with tanks in Germany ready to be transported to the Ukraine.
Rating: Wrong.
Facts: A train loaded with tanks stops at a snow-covered track. The video is said to have been made at a train station in the Brandenburg town of Senftenberg. A comparison of the recordings with images from online map services shows that the recording is actually of the train station in the district of Hosena. The weather conditions also match the current situation there: Between January 18th and 23rd it snowed several times there. This suggests that the recording of the tank transport is really up to date.
A Bundeswehr spokesman confirmed to the German Press Agency on request that German Leopard 2 main battle tanks can be seen in the video. These are used by the Bundeswehr in different variants. Leopard 2 tanks are currently being transported through Brandenburg. However, this is not about a delivery for Ukraine. As the dpa learned from Bundeswehr circles, they are intended for an exercise in Upper Lusatia (Saxony).
According to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD), the first Leopard tanks from Bundeswehr stocks could be in Ukraine in about three months.
Another video is about US infantry fighting vehicles. It is also said to have been filmed in Brandenburg – in the municipality of Guben on the Polish border. The European Command of the US Army confirmed the “Lausitzer Rundschau” corresponding transports through Germany and Poland. According to the newspaper, it is an armored brigade used by the US military itself and rotated regularly as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve (OAR). The US military’s OAR was established in 2014 in support of NATO’s Baltic and Eastern European partners.
According to the Bundeswehr spokesman, the transport of military equipment by train is a routine operation. For exercises, armored vehicles are sent ahead by train to the respective exercise areas. The troops then travel behind and unload the vehicles. Accordingly, recordings showing the transport of military equipment are circulating on the Internet again and again.
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