Berlin: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has decided to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries such as Poland to do so while the US may supply Abrams tanks, two sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters.

“Today the chancellor made a decision that no one took lightly. The fact that Germany will support Ukraine with the Leopard tank is a strong sign of solidarity,” Christian Duerr, parliamentary leader of the governing coalition partner Free Democrats (FDP), was quoted as saying by t-online news portal.

“The #Leopard’s freed!,” Katrin Goering-Eckardt, vice president of the Bundestag, tweeted, sharing a link of a media report on the news.

While there was no official confirmation from Berlin or Washington by late Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), an official in Kyiv swiftly hailed what they said was a potential game changer on the battlefield in the war that is now 11 months old.

The head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration said the delivery of German tanks was necessary to restore the nation’s borders.

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“A few hundred tanks for our tank crews – the best tank crews in the world. This is what is going to become a real punching fist of democracy against the autocracy from the bog,” Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram shortly after sources said Berlin would approve the transfer of Leopard battle tanks.

The decision concerns at least one company of Leopard 2 A6 tanks that will be provided out of Bundeswehr stocks, said Spiegel magazine, which first reported the news. One company usually comprises 14 tanks.

Other allies, in Scandinavia for example, intend to go along with Germany in supplying their Leopard tanks to Kyiv, the magazine reported.