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U.S. Plans to Send Abrams Tanks to Ukraine, Officials Say


WASHINGTON — Reversing its long-standing resistance, the Biden administration plans to send M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, which would be an important step in arming for Kyiv in an attempt to regain their territory from Russia.

The White House is expected to announce a decision as early as Wednesday, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions. An official said the number of Abrams tanks could be around 30.

Over the past month, Pentagon officials have expressed skepticism about sending Abrams, citing concerns about how Ukraine maintains its advanced tanks, which require intensive training and maintenance. And officials say it could take years for them to actually reach any Ukrainian battlefield.

But Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has now come to the point that the commitment to send American tanks is necessary to push Germany to follow suit with the coveted Leopard 2 tank. Officials at the State Department and the White House argue that giving Germany the political cover it seeks to send its tanks goes beyond the Defense Department’s reluctance, officials said.

Abrams tank sending movement, First reported by The Wall Street Journalafter a tough confrontation last week in meeting of NATO defense commanders about the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz’s refusal to send Leopards, which many military experts believe could be an important weapon in Ukraine’s hands.

German officials privately asserted that they would send tanks, among the most advanced in the world, only if the United States agreed to send its own M1 Abrams tanks.

Anticipation of a German announcement was high, as multiple German news outlets reported on Tuesday that Mr. Scholz had decided to send in tanks. Much of the attention is focused on a scheduled speech by the prime minister to Parliament on Wednesday.

Many European countries use German-built Leopards, numbering around 2,000 across the continent, and Ukraine has requested tanks in recent weeks, describing them as necessary to counter the advantage. Russian weapons and manpower. Western tanks are the latest hurdle to be broken as Ukraine’s allies supply the country with weapons systems they previously refused to send; Earlier this month, while the debates over Leopard and Abrams continued, Britain said it would supply some of its Challenger 2 tanks.

On Tuesday, Poland’s Defense Minister said his country has officially requested permission from Germany sent Leopard tanks to Ukraine from its stockpile, and other countries said they would do the same if Germany agreed.

In Kyiv, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto told reporters at a press conference that he discussed the supply of Western tanks to Ukraine with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

It is unclear what prompted the change in the Biden administration. Just Monday, a Pentagon official told reporters that Abrams tanks would be difficult to maintain for Ukrainian forces, in part because they run on jet fuel.

However, the decision to send a relatively small number of tanks and to expect delayed deliveries could overwhelm concerns about an escalation of the war while also providing political benefits to the administration.


What we consider before using anonymous sources. Do the sources know the information? What is their motivation to tell us? Have they proven reliable in the past? Can we verify the information? Even with these questions satisfied, The Times still uses anonymous sources as a last resort. Reporters and at least one editor know the identity of the source.

Defense officials have repeatedly used the fuel issue to partially explain why the administration did not send Abrams tanks to Kiev. Tank experts say that while it is true that tanks have jet fuel gas turbine engines, that is not the whole story. Abrams tanks, they say, Can run on any type of fuelincluding conventional gasoline and diesel.

Pentagon press secretary, Brig. General Patrick Ryder, will not confirm Tuesday’s reports that the administration is about to supply Ukraine with M1 Abrams tanks. “When and if we have something to announce, we’ll announce it,” he said.

He called the Abrams tank “a very capable battlefield platform.”

“It’s also a very complex possibility,” said General Ryder. “And so, like with anything that we’re giving Ukraine, we want to make sure they have the capacity to maintain it, maintain it, train it.”

He did not mention the fuel issue.

The administration initially hoped that the British offer of Challenger tanks would be enough to get the Germans to agree to send their tanks, but Scholz, US officials said, was firmly in favor of Abrams.

Officials say the Abrams tanks will be paid for through the Ukrainian security assistance package, which provides arms funding to Ukraine.

A second defense official said the prolonged delay in deliveries would give Ukraine’s military time to train the most advanced US tanks.

Robert B. AbramsA former U.S. Army armored officer and four-star general who retires in 2021, said the effort would be “terrible” but not impossible.

“How long will it take to get there — to be able to build stockpiles, transport vehicles, train crew, train mechanics, gather everything you need — how long will it take?” General Abrams, who has extensive experience with M1 tanks, named after his father, General Creighton Abrams, said in an interview. “I don’t know, but it’s not 30 days, I can tell you that.”

After a series of Ukrainian successes on the battlefield last fall, the war has moved on an exhausting war of attrition. The heaviest fighting is concentrated in eastern Ukraine, where Russia and Ukraine have inflicted heavy casualties around the city of Bakhmut, as both sides prepare for the expected spring offensive.

Ukrainian officials say they need the tanks to penetrate Russia’s newly built defenses and recapture much of the territory captured by Moscow at the beginning of the war, and to defend against a planned attack. Russian ants in the spring. The United States has begun training hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers in weapons tactics, to closely coordinate infantry, artillery, armored vehicles and, where possible, air support.

Germany’s new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said last week his country would also start training Ukrainians to use Leopard tanks, despite no agreement at the time on whether to send them. .

“It’s to prepare for a possible day when we can act immediately and provide assistance in a very short period of time,” he told reporters.

Ukraine’s allies have provided increasingly sophisticated weapons to help Kyiv fend off the Russian invasion, but they are reluctant to send in heavy offensive weapons for fear of angering Moscow.

Since the full-scale invasion of Russia began 11 months ago, it has managed to carefully calibrate its support, which has gradually grown to include artillery, HIMARS rocket artillery systems, systems Patriot air defense and most recently armored fighting vehicleincluding the Stryker, used by the US military.

Ukraine has been begging for Western heavy armored tanks for months, while officials insist that its current stockpile of Soviet-style tanks is not enough to drive out Russian forces. When Britain announced last week that it was send 14 tanksUkrainian officials thanked the British government, but said in a statement that the Challengers were “insufficient to achieve operational goals”.

Matthew Mpoke Bigg, Lauren McCarthy and John Ismay contribution report.

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