The Pentagon will hand over Abrams tanks to Ukraine by the end of the year
American Abrams M1A1 tanks will arrive in Ukraine by the end of 2023. Staff training is currently underway in Germany.
This was announced by Pentagon spokesman General Patrick Ryder at a briefing.
Soon the USA will transfer M1 Abrams tanks to Germany, which will be used only for the training of Ukrainian units in Grafenwehr. Combat tanks will be delivered to Ukraine separately – they will differ from training tanks.
– These tanks (which will be sent to Germany – Ed.) will be used only for training. These are not the updated tanks that will later go to Ukraine, – clarified the representative of the US Department of Defense.
The training tanks are not allocated from US stocks, they will be brought from other storage locations, which will make it possible to speed up the preparation and delivery of combat vehicles to Ukraine.
According to Patrick Ryder, the combat M1 Abrams is intended for use directly in real conditions and will be equipped accordingly.
Ryder expects that the training of the personnel of the Armed Forces on American tanks, as well as the transfer of individual Abrams to Ukraine, will take place by the end of the year.
Earlier, US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin announced at the results of the 11th Ramstein meeting that the Ukrainian military will begin training on M1 Abrams tanks in Germany in the coming weeks.