Thanks to a move by the US, a months-long standoff about the supply of modern tanks to Ukraine has now been resolved. President Biden has decided to provide the beleaguered country Abrams tanks, obviating Germany’s right to obstruct the shipment of its Leopard 2s models. Indignant, Russia has pledged to obliterate the American armor.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, has been pleading with the west for months to send his army modern main battle tanks. Kiev asserts that it can overcome Russian defenses and reclaim its occupied territory with the help of 300 capable tanks acting as an armored spearhead.
The White House is set to approve sending advanced M1 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Tuesday, reversing a months-long policy of resisting the repeated calls of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the same. https://t.co/0pfNvjDyS2
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) January 25, 2023
The German-made Leopard 2 is the tank that Ukraine truly wants since it is quick, simple to repair, and has a large supply of spare parts because 13 NATO allies use it and some have offered to donate tanks to Ukraine. Germany has so far refrained from donating any of its own tanks or letting other users re-export theirs.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has emphasized that his country cannot supply tanks alone because he may be afraid that Russia could retaliate by restricting future gas delivery. The pressure on Germany increased on January 14, nevertheless, when the UK volunteered to provide 14 Challenger 2 MBTs.
President Biden agreed to supply up to 31 M1A2 Abrams tanks ten days later. After being forced into a position by that decision, Scholz has now agreed to supply Ukraine at least 14 Leopard 2s and has stopped preventing nations like Poland from sending more.
Russia has reacted fiercely to the news, as was expected. If the warning is meant to dissuade the US from contributing tanks. According to Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to Washington, “American tanks without a doubt will be destroyed like all other samples of NATO military equipment.”
Russia has been making many unsuccessful attempts to destroy Ukraine’s HIMARS rocket artillery systems for months. In Iraq, Abrams tanks had already faced and defeated T-72s built in Russia. In Ukraine, it’s unlikely to be any different.
