The Biden administration has decided to provide M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, overriding previous concerns that the heavy battle tanks, the world’s most powerful, are too logistically burdensome for Kyiv’s forces, according to U.S. officials.
The decision, due to be announced Wednesday, comes after a rare dispute last week among Western allies over the provision of tanks made in Germany, which has been reluctant to allow its Leopard 2 main battle tanks to be transferred to Ukraine unless the United States first provides Abrams.
Pentagon officials have emphasized in recent weeks that they are planning how to build Kyiv’s security forces for the future. The Abramses are expected to be ordered from manufacturers, rather than transferred from existing U.S. stocks, and the main usefulness in announcing them now appeared designed to break a logjam with the Germans.
has decided to deliver at least one tank company, consisting of about 14 of its own Leopards, and to grant permission to others. A German government spokesman declined to comment on the reports. Earlier Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Biden was considering moving ahead with Abramses. Stoltenberg made no mention of the Abrams, but said that allies “must provide heavier and more advanced systems so that the Ukrainian forces are able to repel the Russian forces. Not only to survive, but to win, take back territory and prevail as a sovereign, independent state in Europe.”
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