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American Abrams main battle tanks (near Vilnius in October 2019)
Photo:
Mindaugas Kulbis / AP
The government of US President Joe Biden apparently wants to support Ukraine even more in the fight against Russia: As the New York Times reports, the US wants to send dozens of M1 Abrams main battle tanks to the country.
The newspaper relies on unnamed sources within the government.
Officially, the step could therefore be announced on Wednesday (local time).
One of the sources is said to have told the newspaper that there could be 30 to 50 tanks.
The United States had previously emphasized that providing the Abrams tanks was not practical for practical reasons.
The US tanks would have to be transported across the Atlantic, maintenance was more complex and they consumed too much fuel, according to the Defense Ministry.
Then on Tuesday afternoon, the Wall Street Journal reported that a US announcement about the commitment of "a larger number" of M1 Abrams could come later this week.
The US government had not confirmed this report.
"I have nothing to announce at this time," said Defense Department spokesman Pat Ryder.
He also emphasized that the maintenance of the M1 Abrams tanks was a challenge.
"It was like that yesterday, it's like that today, and it will be like that in the future."
Shortly before, it had become known that the federal government wanted to deliver German Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine after weeks of back and forth.
Recently there had been reports that Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had made the delivery of the Abrams tanks a condition.
Berlin and Washington had rejected these reports.
According to SPIEGEL information, the German Leopard tanks are now to come from Bundeswehr stocks.
In the medium to long term, other battle tanks from industry stocks could be prepared for use.
aar/dpa
