The U.S. government is considering sending Ukraine a significant number of M1 Abrams tanks as part of a deal with Germany to unblock the delivery of its Leopard 2 tanks, The Wall Street Journal reported in its Tuesday edition.
The White House’s decision could be announced this week, days after the possibility was already speculated after a telephone meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. However, Berlin denied that any conditions had been imposed.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has been insistently demanding from its partners the delivery of German Leopard tanks, which require prior authorization from Berlin, whose reluctance had evidenced a new disagreement among Kiev’s allies, especially with regard to Poland and the Baltic countries, the most critical and belligerent with Germany’s misgivings.
If such an agreement is reached, Ukraine could have a whole new fleet of these vehicles at its disposal at a time when it is preparing an offensive to regain the eastern territories under Moscow’s control. However, the Pentagon has raised doubts about the feasibility of such an operation, since there are no facilities for their maintenance and repair on NATO territory.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
