In reversal, U.S. is poised to send M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine
In what would be a reversal, the Biden administration has moved closer to approving the shipment of M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Tuesday, as international reluctance to send tanks to the battlefront against the Russians begins to erode. The decision could be announced as soon as Wednesday, though it could take months or years for the tanks to be delivered.
One official said the tanks would be bought under an upcoming Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative package, which provides longer-range funding for weapons and equipment to be purchased from commercial vendors.
The U.S. announcement is expected to be in coordination with an announceBy ment by Germany that it will approve Poland’s request to transfer Germanmade Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, according to one official.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has not yet been made public.
agreeing to send the Abrams at an as-yet unspecified time under the assistance initiative, the administration is able to meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s demand for an American commitment without having to send the tanks immediately.
Much of the aid sent so far in the 11-month-old war has been through a separate program drawing on Pentagon stocks to get weapons more quickly to Ukraine. But even under that program, it would take months to get tanks to Ukraine and to get Ukrainian forces trained on them.
It’s unknown how many tanks would be approved.
Until now, the U.S. has resisted providing its own M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, citing extensive and complex maintenance and logistical challenges with the high-tech vehicles.
The administration’s reversal comes just days after a coalition of more than 50 senior defense officials from Europe and beyond met in Germany to
discuss Ukraine’s war needs, and battle tanks were a prime topic.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the deployment of Western tanks would trigger “unambiguously negative” consequences.
The likely plans to send the Abrams were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.