Germany to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine — reports

Not-yet-confirmed news reports from several outlets say Germany's government has decided to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine along with allies. This follows a fairly long-running debate.

German news magazine Der Spiegel and others published stories on Tuesday evening saying that the government in Berlin had decided to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. 

This follows a long-running debate on the issue among NATO allies, and comes after Poland formally asked Berlin for permission to send some of its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine earlier on Tuesday. 

Spiegel magazine reported that the decision would involve sending at least one company of Leopard 2A6 tanks. 

Spiegel attributed its information to government sources but did not identify them. Broadcaster ntv issued a similar report, and the dpa news agency later said its "coalition sources" had said the same. But the government did not immediately comment publicly on the reports.