On Wednesday, American officials said it would be at least months before the Abrams could be delivered - and would not elaborate - although other experts said it could take at least a year.īritain, Germany and Poland have each committed to sending 14 tanks, with London predicting delivery of its Challenger 2s within weeks. The Abrams is one of the most sophisticated tank systems in the world, but it requires specific training, technology for its parts and generally on specialized fuels to keep it running dependably. The biggest donation is coming from the United States - 31 M1 Abrams, enough to supply one Ukrainian military battalion. Which countries are donating Western tanks, and how many? “Sending the Abrams appears to have been the key to unlocking the Leopards, which will probably get to Ukraine much faster,” said Sophia Besch, an expert on European defense issues at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. The more immediate payoff from the announcements on Wednesday may be in providing a pathway for about a dozen other European countries to donate their own German-made Leopard 2s to Ukraine - a step that would not have been taken without Berlin’s consent and a parallel promise by Washington to contribute its M1 Abrams tanks. The tanks that were promised by Berlin and Washington will not be delivered until spring or summer at the earliest - not in time to help Ukraine defend hotly contested towns and cities near Bakhmut, in the country’s east, where Russian forces have been recently advancing in a grueling ground assault. Ukrainian troops still need to be trained to use the powerful Western war machines, and moving them into the conflict zone is far from an easy task. “Soon to be a regular sight prowling the fields of Ukraine,” Britain’s Defense Ministry crowed in a Twitter post with a photo of a German Leopard 2 tank and a British-made Challenger 2 tank chewing up a muddy training field in Poland.īut not that soon. “These can help Ukraine to defend itself, win and prevail as an independent nation,” said Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general.

But it may be months before the tanks rumble across the battlefield. The decisions by Germany and the United States to send battle tanks to Ukraine, reversing months of resistance, on Wednesday prompted additional pledges from across Europe and predictions of victory over Russia.

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