The US will supply 31 Abrams M1 tanks to Kiev, but it will take many months for them to arrive.
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| Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine |
Following Germany's approval for the deployment to Ukraine of 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks, which many believe might actually change the course of the battle, Kiev's soldiers are receiving further help. In a $400 million contract, the US will deliver 31 Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine. Following weeks of NATO pressure on Germany, the two declarations constitute a watershed moment.
General Dynamics Corp will build the Abrams tanks from the ground up, using funding provided by the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative program. This indicates that the tanks for the Kiev military will not be taken from American stocks and will arrive months later. Then there's the issue of training in the usage of the extremely strong tanks. It is not yet clear when or where Ukrainian forces would be trained to use Abrams tanks, but according to John Kirby, spokesperson for the US National Security Council, it will not be in Ukraine.
By deploying the Abrams, the US is responding to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's plea for a larger American commitment to the forces in Kiev. The deployment of more strong tanks might escalate the situation in Ukraine.
For US President Joe Biden, the US sending Abrams tanks to Kiev "does not constitute a threat to Russia, it is not an attack against Russia". However, Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the alliance is not "collapsing," but rather that the US and its partners are unified. "Putin anticipated Europe and the United States to lose their resolve," Biden said in the White House's Roosevelt Room. "He anticipated our backing for Ukraine to dwindle over time. He was wrong. He was wrong from the start and continues to be wrong."
More help to Ukraine
The US president then enumerated, one by one, the help that other nations are giving or would provide to Ukraine and among them there is also Italy, which "is deploying artillery". And it is the result of an agreement reached just moments before by Biden with the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, to strengthen Euro-Atlantic coordination in aiding Ukraine in repelling the Russian attack.
Noting the reality on the ground over a year after the Russian invasion, leaders emphasized the significance of maintaining strong Allied unity while providing all-around aid to Kiev.
Other European governments have also provided more military assistance to Ukraine in recent hours. The United Kingdom provided two Challenger tanks, France provided armored combat vehicles and air defense systems, the Netherlands provided Patriot missiles, Poland provided armored vehicles, Sweden provided infantry units, Denmark and Estonia provided artillery howitzers, Latvia provided missiles, and Lithuania provided anti-aircraft weapons.