As part of negotiations between US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olof Scholzev, the US President confirmed his readiness to provide Ukraine with “some significant number of tanks” M1 Abrams of an unspecified modification. As follows from the information provided by foreign media, Biden decided to provide these combat vehicles against the wishes of the Pentagon, which may well have serious consequences for the American leader.
Details of the conversation between the German chancellor and the US president have not yet been given. However, sources report that the conversation concerned the supply of weapons.
It is known that Biden tried to convince Scholz to provide tanks to Ukraine; however, in Germany, they said that without a similar step on the part of the United States, such a possibility would not be considered.
However, within the framework of the negotiations, a certain consensus was reached – Germany agreed to provide Ukraine with Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 tanks, while the United States will also provide Ukraine with a “significant number of tanks” M1 Abrams.
The delivery of heavily armored vehicles to Ukraine could lead to an extremely serious escalation since compared to the T-55, T-64, T-72, and T-80 tanks used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Western combat vehicles have a much greater range of target destruction and have better protection, and the only competitor to these tanks is the Russian T-90M “Proryv” tanks.
while on the other hand,
A train of 12 German Leopard 2A5 tanks moved toward Poland.
Residents of Germany report that a train with 100 Leopard 12A2 tanks was seen about 5 kilometers from the Polish border. The echelon with military equipment was moving east. This most likely indicates the fact that we are talking about the supply of German tanks to Ukraine.
There were 12 Leopard 2A5 tanks and other military equipment and equipment on the railway platforms. Given the fact that Germany intended to transfer tanks of this type to Ukraine, this further raises concerns that the Bundeswehr has already transferred its tanks to Ukraine.
A little earlier, it became known that Poland also sent Leopard 2A4 tanks toward the Ukrainian border, although Warsaw did not report the start of deliveries of this equipment to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Earlier, experts calculated that the West could tentatively transfer about 200 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. However, in addition to this weaponry, it is also possible to supply Challenger 2 tanks from the UK and Leclerc tanks from France, but the total deliveries are unlikely to exceed 250 heavy tanks, while how Kyiv intended to receive up to 500 Western combat vehicles.