The UK's Challenger tanks "are already in Ukraine," the spokeswoman for Ukraine's defense ministry told AFP.

"A year ago, nobody would have expected such strong support from our partners," Resnikov explained on the online service Facebook. He referred to the British Challengers as "military works of art".

Shortly before, it had become known that the Leopard 2 main battle tanks promised by Germany had meanwhile arrived in the Ukraine. Germany had promised Ukraine the delivery of 18 Leopard 2A6 tanks.

In the past two months, Ukrainian soldiers and technicians have been trained in Germany on the Leopard and the Marder.