U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about continued U.S. support for Ukraine within the Roosevelt Room on the White House in Washington, U.S., January 25, 2023.Â
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration announced Wednesday it’s going to equip Ukraine with the mighty M1A1 Abrams tank, a key reversal within the West’s effort to arm Kyiv because it prepares for a fresh Russian offensive.
The 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks, which amount to 1 Ukrainian tank battalion, will expand on the greater than $26 billion the U.S. has committed to Kyiv’s fight since Russia invaded nearly a yr ago.
The tanks will “enhance Ukraine’s capability to defend its territory and achieve its strategic objectives,” Biden said from the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
“Delivering these tanks to the sector goes to take time. Time that we’ll see and we’ll use to make certain the Ukrainians are fully prepared,” he added.
Biden later added: “That is what that is about: helping Ukraine defend and protect Ukrainian land. It shouldn’t be an offensive threat to Russia.”
The U.S. may even provide eight M88 recovery vehicles that support the M1A1 Abrams. The Biden administration may even send greater than 500 armored vehicles of assorted types to bolster Ukraine’s military.
The U.S. plans to buy the brand new M1s using funds from the congressionally approved Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
It should “take a while” for the tanks to be delivered to Ukraine, a senior Biden administration official said Wednesday.
“We’re talking months versus weeks,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, ground rules set by the administration.
A M1A2 SEP (V2) Abrams Fundamental Battle Tank being unloaded in
Staff Sgt. Grady Jones | U.S. Army | Flickr CC
The Pentagon has been tasked with providing the training, maintenance and logistics support for the M1A1 tanks, based on the official. One other U.S. official said that the training on learn how to use the tanks, which is able to take several months, will occur outside of Ukraine.
The sudden U.S. about-face follows weeks of hesitation on whether to send the tanks. The administration mulled whether or not they would offer Ukraine a bonus because they take significant effort to take care of.
“The actual challenge with giving the Ukrainians M1A1 tanks shouldn’t be fuel but maintenance,” Jeffrey Edmonds, a Russian military expert at nonprofit national security research group CNA, told CNBC.
“Each system on the tank, from the turbine engine to the complex sights utilized by the gunner, is complex, requiring quite a few intricate parts to operate properly,” added Edmonds, who has a military profession spanning greater than twenty years.
Edmonds, who spent seven years of service on M1A1 Abrams tanks, said that the platform has specific parts that “are usually not interchangeable with other tanks and their maintenance is a skill in and of itself.”
U.S. officials shared similar concerns for weeks on the departments of State and Defense and White House podiums, and in addition during Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s recent trip to Germany.
“The M1 is a really capable battlefield platform and it is also a really complex capability. And so, like anything that we’re providing to Ukraine, we would like to be certain that they’ve the power to take care of it, sustain it, to coach on it,” Pentagon press secretary U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Tuesday.
On Wednesday, a U.S. official said the choice to send the Abrams tanks reflected an evolution in what Ukraine needed on a shifting battlefield.
“This decision could be very much in line with a continuing conversation with allies and partners and in fact with Ukraine,” the official said.
At near 70 tons, the stalwart M1A1 Abrams is among the many heaviest tanks on the earth. It makes up for its weight with remarkable firepower and unnerving maneuverability.
Built by General Dynamics Land Systems, the M1 Abrams serves because the U.S. Army’s principal battle tank. It has been utilized in nearly every major U.S. conflict since its introduction in 1980.
A U.S. M1A1 Abrams Fundamental Battle Tank during a day of coaching at Exercise.
Cpl. Tyler Fundamental | U.S. Marine Corps | Flickr CC
The addition of the U.S. tanks to the newest military aid package follows German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s decision to supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks.
Germany said its goal was to “quickly assemble two tank battalions with Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine.” The country will supply 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks in what it called a “first step.”
The training of the Ukrainian crews is ready to start quickly in Germany.
One senior U.S. Biden administration official said that Washington expects and welcomes the arrival of tons of of armored vehicles and tanks in Ukraine from Western allies in the approaching months.
‘Blatant provocation’
Russia has been largely isolated from the worldwide stage following its brutal invasion of Ukraine. And yet, other countries accused of gross human rights abuses proceed to be engaged with by the international community. That begs the query: what does it take to be labeled a pariah state and who gets to make your mind up?
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The Kremlin slammed the potential weapons transfer on Tuesday, and said it’s going to not “prevent Russia from reaching our goals.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned the expected U.S. announcement, saying, “Unfortunately more weapons from NATO bring more suffering for people in Ukraine.”
“It also brings more attention to the continent however it cannot prevent Russia from reaching our goals,” he added.
Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, said the tanks “could be one other blatant provocation against the Russian Federation.”
“If a choice to transfer to Kyiv M1 Abrams is made, American tanks with none doubt shall be destroyed as all other samples of NATO military equipment,” he said.
