Biden announces transfer of tanks to Ukraine, praises Germany for doing the same
Mike Brest
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President Joe Biden has announced the transfer of 31 U.S. Abrams tanks to Ukraine in a coordinated effort with Germany and other European allies.
Biden’s decision to provide tanks, which he announced on Wednesday, ends a roughly weeklong stalemate in which Germany had refused to provide Leopard tanks and disallowed other European nations from providing their German-made tanks unless the United States did the same. The U.S. had declined to include Abrams tanks in its latest security aid, which was announced last week, and defense officials cited the significant maintenance required for them.
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The Abrams tanks will not reach Ukraine for months, though Biden said they “will begin to train the [Ukrainian] troops on issue of sustainment, logistics, [and] maintenance as soon as possible,” though, he added, it’s “going to take time.”
Germany has reversed course and announced earlier on Wednesday that it would provide a company of 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks, which will reach the battlefield “in the coming weeks,” according to a senior administration official. Other European countries also have Leopard tanks, and Poland has already sought Germany’s approval to send them to Ukraine, while others could follow.
Defense officials from roughly 50 countries met at Ramstein Air Base in Germany last week in the eighth meeting of the Defense Contact Group. Officials left the meeting without coming to an agreement on the tanks, and at the time, Department of Defense officials said providing Abrams tanks didn’t “make sense.”
“The Abrams are — it’s more of a sustainment issue. I mean, this is a tank that requires jet fuel, whereas the Leopard and the Challenger, it’s a different engine. They require diesel. It’s a little bit easier to maintain. They can maneuver across large portions of territory before they need to refuel. The maintenance and the high cost that it would take to maintain an Abrams,” deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters last Thursday. “It just doesn’t make sense to provide that to the Ukrainians at this moment.”
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Biden said Germany did not force his hand, though he added they “wanted to make sure we’re all together to do all the work necessary.”
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