The United States and Germany are reportedly planning to meet Ukraine’s long-time demand for tanks.
As per Associated Press (AP) report, the US government will announce its plans to send nearly 30 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine on Wednesday (25 January).
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also agreed to deliver at least 14 Leopard 2 battle tanks, BBC reported.
A US official told AP that the announcement by the Joe Biden-administration can come in coordination with Germany granting its approval to Poland to transfer German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Poland’s defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak said his country has made an official request to Berlin to supply the German-made heavy armour to Kyiv.
The United Kingdom has already announced it will send 12 Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine.
The US and Germany’s expected approval comes amid earlier reluctance from the two nations to provide tanks to Ukraine in its war with Russia.
Meanwhile, Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the US, has called America’s expected delivery of tanks to Ukraine “another blatant provocation”.
“If the United States decides to supply tanks, then justifying such a step with arguments about ‘defensive weapons’ will definitely not work. This would be another blatant provocation against the Russian Federation,” Antonov wrote on Telegram messaging app, as per France 24.
Why is Ukraine seeking tanks from its Western and European allies? Why were the US and Germany hesitant in supplying the armoured vehicles previously? Let’s take a closer look.
Why Ukraine needs tanks
Ukraine says Western battle tanks could provide its troops “mobile firepower” to rout Russian forces in “decisive battles” this year, as per Reuters.
Politico report explains that tanks could prove conclusive in Kyiv’s survival as Ukraine mulls a spring offensive against Russia.
Retired US Army Lieutenant General Ben Hodges told NPR that Ukrainians could launch their spring counteroffensive in Crimea as they know it is a “decisive terrain”.
“With tanks from the West, Ukraine could create an armoured brigade that could serve as the spearhead of a force that could break through those Russian defences down towards Mariupol,” Hodges said, adding that the purpose is to continue Crimea’s “isolation from everything else.”
Russia controls Crimea since it “illegally” annexed it in 2014. The US has maintained that Crimea is still a part of Ukraine, says The New York Times (NYT) report.
Located between Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, the Crimean Peninsula has become a base for Russia to launch “devastating strikes”.
NYT reported that Crimea houses thousands of dug-in Russian forces and several Russian military bases.
Ukraine also requires tanks to “break through lines of trenches” in Luhansk and the Zaporizhzhia region, says Politico.
“Tanks are absolutely crucial for the next stage in this conflict”, former commander of UK’s 1st Royal Tank Regiment, Colonel (retired) Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, told Forces News.
“Ukrainians want tanks because that gives them manoeuvre, the ability to manoeuvre in large areas, very quickly and break through those static Russian lines, get behind the Russian forces, cut them off from their logistics support and is probably the surest way – but combined with infantry and artillery and air power – to defeat the Russians in Ukraine,” Bretton-Gordon added.
UK has pledged 12 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. AP File Photo
Experts say the flat land in Ukraine makes it an ideal territory for the movement of tanks and it would help the troops in recapturing the regions lost to Russia, Politico reported.
Explaining Ukraine’s push for tanks to bolster its defences against Russia, a diplomat from one European Union (EU) country mulling donating these heavy fighting vehicles told Politico last week, “If Ukraine is going to have any chance of going on the offensive, they need some mobility with heavy guns — it’s not just enough to have military-grade Land Rovers or armoured patrolled vehicles. They need something that can actually destroy Russian tanks at a distance.”
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What advantage do these tanks bring?
Ukraine has relied on Soviet-era T-72 tanks since Russia invaded the country in February 2022.
Kyiv has also captured as many as 500 tanks from Russian troops so far, says a Financial Times report.
However, experts say Western tanks are much superior to their Soviet-era counterparts.
“Western tanks, particularly Challenger 2, vastly overmatch Russian tanks and the old Soviet tanks that the Ukrainians have at the moment,” Bretton-Gordon told Forces News.
Weighing 70 tons, the modern US-made M1A2 Abrams has a speed of up to 42 mph, reported Business Insider. It has a long firing range and uses a 120mm main gun.
However, M1 Abrams tanks have large gas turbine engines that consume large amounts of kerosene, thus posing refuelling challenges, noted Politico.
While Germany’s Leopard 2 depends on diesel fuel which is more accessible in war-torn Ukraine.
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Leopard 2 is “one of the most well-reputed battle tanks in the world, perhaps second only” to the M1 Abrams, military arms experts said, as per NPR.
The German-made 55-ton tank can carry a crew of four. It has a range of around 500 kilometres and speed of about 68 kilometres per hour, AP reported.
Germany’s Leopard 2 tanks can carry a crew of four. AP File Photo
The UK’s Challenger 2 model is also a “significant improvement” from the Soviet-era tanks.
It is also well-protected and its main armament is a 120mm rifled gun, which is “very accurate, very powerful”, Bretton-Gordon, the former commander, told Forces News.
Reason for the initial holdup
The US showed resistance in transferring its high-tech M1 Abrams tanks citing extensive training and their maintenance.
US’ Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl told reporters last week that Abrams tanks are “complicated, expensive, difficult to maintain and hard to train”.
As per AP, Kahl said that defense secretary Lloyd Austin has insisted that “we should not be providing the Ukrainians systems they can’t repair, they can’t sustain, and that they, over the long term, can’t afford, because it’s not helpful.”
Meanwhile, Germany was hesitant to provide tanks as it believed this would make NATO a “direct party” in the war with Russia, reported BBC. Berlin also expressed reservations to send its tanks unless the US sent Abrams, noted AP.
With inputs from agencies
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