By now the Abrahams tanks are arriving in Ukraine. Will they arrive in time?
At the end of an important Friday meeting of the Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany – a coalition of nations that coordinates armaments for Ukraine – US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that the Pentagon is stepping up the delivery of the M1 Abrams to Kiev.
“We have also accelerated the delivery times of the M1 Abrams to provide Ukraine with more armored capabilities in the coming months, and the M1s that the Ukrainians will use for training will arrive here in Germany in the coming weeks,” Austin announced at a press conference. .
This comes on the heels of reports earlier today that 31 Abrams tanks will soon arrive in Germany, where a further 10-week training program for Ukrainian operators will take place. This means the tanks could finally arrive on the battlefield by the autumn, according to reports. But given that Russia clearly has the upper hand in Donetsk's key city, Bakhmut, how things will play out by then is far from certain. They could end up doing nothing because peace has broken out or at least the ceasefire.
Austin, in his comments, also pledged support to Kiev as long as Ukraine fights the Russian invasion, reviewing the major weapons systems supplied so far by 54 allied countries – another major development announced at the end of the Contact Group meeting, the fourth that was held, is that Germany, Poland and Ukraine signed an agreement to create a repair center for Leopard II tanks used in Ukraine.
Ukraine calls it a “tank coalition” involving partner nations to send armored personnel carriers…
A "tank coalition" meeting was held.
I am grateful to my German and Polish colleagues, Boris #Pistorius and @mblaszczak , for their unwavering support for Ukraine.
Today, we signed the Letter of Intent for establishment of a Maintenance and Service Center in Poland for Leopard 2… pic.twitter.com/hrFrrUvN9m— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) April 21, 2023
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius explained that "all parties have agreed on how to finance this hub, which costs around 150-200 million euros ($384 million) a year and could start operating at the end of May". In the meantime, however, any Leopard II tanks sent are still waiting to go into action in the elusive spring counter-offensive.
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The article By now the Abrahams tanks are arriving in Ukraine. Will they arrive in time? comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/ormai-i-carri-abrahams-stanno-arrivando-in-ucraina-giungeranno-in-tempo/ on Sat, 22 Apr 2023 16:50:38 +0000.