In a previous interview with the Guardian, Versluys said that it could take months and up to €1m in renovation costs for each tank to be ready for use in Ukraine. He added that over a dozen tanks would be used for spare parts while the rest would be repaired. Versluys, who previously spent nine years working for the Belgian army, said the tanks were now being transported to a factory for a substantial overhaul. “I am glad they will finally join the fight for freedom,” the post added. “The fact that they leave our company proves that we asked for a fair market price and someone was more than happy to take them,” Versluys said in a post on LinkedIn on Tuesday, accompanied by a picture of tanks next to a bottle of Ukrainian vodka.

The clash underlined a predicament faced by western governments trying to find weapons for Ukraine after more than a year of intense warfare – arms they discarded as obsolete are now in high demand, and often owned by private companies. Versluys at the time denied that the Belgian government had approached him. The German-made Leopards were at the centre of a public spat earlier this year after Belgian defence minister Ludivine Dedonder said it considered buying the tanks but accused the firm of trying to make a “huge profit” from the sale. The company and the German defence ministry did not comment. Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Tuesday evening that the buyer was arms maker Rheinmetall which planned to prepare most of them for export to Ukraine. A source with direct knowledge of the deal said that the tanks were bought by a “major German defence player”.

Modern russian tanks in ukraine