After months of negotiations, global political pressure, and constant urging by Kyiv, Ukraine’s foreign-provided tank force is finally beginning to materialize. The first four of 14 Leopard 2 tanks promised by Poland are now in Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced Friday during a visit to Kyiv on the first anniversary of Russia’s all-out invasion.

“Poland, as the country that was the first to successfully build this coalition of Leopards, today also wants, as the first European country, to give you @ZelenskyyUa the first 4 Leopards,” Marawiecki said on Twitter Friday.

He later posed with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and Ukrainian troops in front of the tanks in Ukraine.

“Together with PMs @Denys_Shmyhal and @MorawieckiM met new beasties in our Ukrainian military zoo – 4 Leopard2A4!,” Reznikov tweeted Friday. “We are looking forward to hosting more of them. Food and leisure will be provided.”

Reznikov even climbed into one of the tanks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his gratitude at a joint press conference.

“Poland was with us even before the start of the full-scale war, was with us every minute of this year and, I am sure, will be with us until our victory,” he said. “Our joint victory! … I am thankful to Mateusz Morawiecki and all our Polish brothers for understanding the situation and needs of Ukraine.”

The four Leopard 2 tanks are the first of scores that were promised to Ukraine after months of negotiations and pressure on Germany, which holds the export licenses to some 2,000 Leopard 2s of various variants.

The Leopard logjam was broken last month after the governments of Germany and the United States announced they will deliver Leopard 2 and M1 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine respectively. Possibly even more significant was Berlin’s announcement that it will also issue licenses allowing the transfer of other Leopard 2s from partner countries that also w