The Ministry of Defense of North Macedonia confirmed the information about the transfer of T-72 tanks to Ukraine. About it informs TV and radio channel RTS. “The convoy of Macedonian tanks headed towards Ukraine,” the Macedonian Defense Ministry said.
We are talking about tanks of the “third generation” from the battalion, which is planned to be disbanded soon. The Macedonian Ministry of Defense did not report on the number of tanks transferred to Ukraine, but it is known that there are 31 tanks of this type in the arsenal of the army of North Macedonia. They were handed over to Skopje by Russia in 2000 when the Macedonian army confronted ethnic Albanian separatists from the so-called National Liberation Army. Armored vehicles played an important role in the country’s victory over the separatists.
“In fact, the Ministry of Defense of North Macedonia explained the decision to transfer tanks to Ukraine free of charge by the fact that these vehicles will become uncompetitive in a few years, and also by the fact that they will soon be replaced by more modern ones,” the channel claims. Who and when will provide a replacement for the T-72 is still unknown.
North Macedonia became NATO member in 2019, after lengthy disputes and a veto by Greece, which demanded country name change from the disputed “Macedonia” to North Macedonia.
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