The United States Government Plans on Sending 31 Abrams Tanks to Ukraine
Jose Nino
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On January 25, 2023, President Joe Biden announced that his regime would continue supplying military aid to Ukraine. This time around it would be sending 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
Biden’s announcement came shortly after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz revealed that Germany would be providing Ukraine with several Leopard 2 tanks.
Biden made the following statement about the Abrams tank shipment:
Today I’m announcing that the United States will be sending thirty-one Abrams tanks to Ukraine, the equivalent of one Ukrainian battalion.
Biden said that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recommended the move, arguing that it would “enhance Ukraine’s capacity to defend its territory and achieve its strategic objectives.”
During the press conference, a reporter asked Biden about the timing of his regime’s decision, wondering if Germany compelled him to finally pull the trigger on this aid package.
“Germany didn’t force me to change my mind,” Biden responded “We wanted to make sure we are all together.”
Previously, the German government was worried that sending tanks to Ukraine would heighten tensions in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. However, US and NATO pressure eventually got the Germans to relent.
Colonel André Wüstner of the German Bundeswehr Association, was critical of the move saying that it was “good for Ukraine, bad for the German army,” and was worried that the move would undermine Germany’s capacity to defend itself.
Per a Fox News report, the European Leopard 2 tanks can be used by the Ukrainian military almost immediately. However, the American M1 Abrams tanks “will take months” to make it to Ukraine. This is owing to the fact that these tanks will be obtained through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, instead of coming directly from US stockpiles.
US officials revealed that the training for the Abrams tanks is slightly different from the tanks currently being used by the Ukrainian military. This training would occur outside Ukraine, though no exact location was specified.
Let’s be real here. None of these aid packages will be the game-changer that Ukraine needs to defeat Russia on the battlefield. It only prolongs its inevitable defeat and potential territorial disintegration into a dysfunctional rump state. The most sensible alternative to ending this conflict is by the US extricating itself from it and letting Russia and Ukraine settle this conflict among themselves with whatever European countries are willing to facilitate peace talks.
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