The US will not immediately send Abrams tanks to Ukraine

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Kyiv has been demanding in recent weeks from Western governments to send modern tanks to repel the Russian invasion. However, so far its allies have committed to sending mainly light armored fighting vehicles or personnel carriers.

The United States is not ready to supply Ukraine with its most advanced heavy tanks, the Abrams, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday, citing maintenance and training issues as justification for the refusal.

Kyiv has been demanding in recent weeks from Western governments to send modern tanks to repel the Russian invasion. However, so far its allies have committed to sending mainly light armored fighting vehicles or personnel carriers.

“I don’t think we’re there yet,” said the US Pentagon’s third-in-command Colin Kall, when asked during a press conference about the possibility of sending Abrams tanks to Kyiv, after London’s decision to make Britain the first country to send Challenger 2 heavy tanks to Ukraine.

“The Abrams is a highly complex weapon system. It is expensive, requires difficult training, has a jet engine. I think it uses 11 liters of kerosene per kilometer,” said Mr. Kahl, the US undersecretary of defense for strategy.

“It’s not the easiest system to maintain either,” he added, without, however, ruling out the possibility that the American position could change in the future.

He also pointed out that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has so far carefully avoided sending the Ukrainians weapons that “they won’t be able to repair, they won’t be able to maintain and they won’t be able to have in the long term, because that wouldn’t benefit anybody.” .

According to reports in the American and German media, Germany will not agree to the delivery of Leopard 2 heavy tanks to the Ukrainian army unless the US makes a similar move with its Abrams.

RES-EMP

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