The United States considers sending its Abrams tanks to Ukraine

A 180 degree turn.

After months of opposition, the United States is now preparing to send M-1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, admit military commanders who spoke on condition of anonymity to the US press.

The initiative could be announced this Wednesday and coincides with the lifting of the last German resistance —this same Tuesday— to send the Leopard tanks, the most powerful in Europe.

The change in position occurred after a telephone conversation between US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on January 17, according to

, the first to advance the information.

In that conversation, Biden agreed to examine the possibility of sending the powerful Abrams despite the contrary opinion of the Pentagon.

The initiative, according to the American newspaper, could be coordinated between both governments and would include Germany agreeing to deliver a small batch of Leopards to Ukraine.

This same Tuesday, the Government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz has removed the veto on the shipment of even its own Leopard tanks.

Until now, the Social Democratic ruler refused, worried about the possible reaction of Moscow.

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The Pentagon has avoided confirming the news on Tuesday.

His spokesperson, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, said: “There is nothing to announce today about the Abrams.

We have an intense conversation with the Ukrainians about their needs on the ground, immediate but also in the medium and long term”.

Decisions on arms supplies, he has pointed out, "do not take into account image, but what can provide the best opportunities for victory on the field of battle."

As the AP agency has pointed out, the shipment of Abrams that the United States is considering could take "months or years" to be delivered to Ukraine.

According to this agency, the military commanders have not yet finalized the details of the supply;

The tanks, says an official quoted by this means, could be included in a new item of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides longer-term financing for the purchase of weapons from commercial companies.

Ukraine demands the urgent shipment of tanks to be able to respond to the offensive that Russia is preparing, according to the analysis of kyiv and Western forces, for this spring.

Washington, which supports the requests of the Zelensky government and last week approved a new supply of weapons worth 2.5 billion dollars, recommended the use of German tanks, among the most modern in the world.

The US Department of Defense considered that sending Abrams would not be the most practical solution.

These highly technologically advanced tanks require special training for soldiers to handle;

they consume kerosene, and their logistics chain of supplies and spare parts would be more difficult to establish.

Instead, the Pentagon argued, the Leopards are sufficiently established in Europe that logistics chains to Ukraine were relatively easy to establish.

“Our focus has been trying to provide Ukraine with the capabilities they need right now to be effective on the battlefield, especially as we get closer to spring,” a senior US forces commander said Monday, speaking to journalists about the situation of the war on condition of anonymity.

“We are already seeing Russia attempt to recruit, repair and restart operations.

So we have to make sure that the capabilities that we give them (to the Ukrainian forces) allow them to engage their weapons as soon as possible.

And that has been our goal."

According to this command, the M-1 Abrams tank is "an extremely capable and effective combat system, but it is also a very complex system that requires a lot of maintenance and logistical support."

"You have to give them something that they can use immediately, because time is not on their side in this situation," added the soldier.

The tank supply deal would settle a major dispute between the United States and its European allies over the war at a key moment in the conflict, about to enter its first year.

Russia is mobilizing troops and reorganizing its forces for an offensive that could set the course for hostilities in the coming months.

kyiv plans a counteroffensive that will counteract the Russian impulse and allow it to retake at least part of the territories occupied by its neighbor.

Last week Washington and Berlin failed to agree on a meeting of military commanders at the Ramstein base (Germany).

Pressure from the US and its allies did not persuade the German government of the need to give the go-ahead for sending German tanks to Ukraine, or agree to other nations ceding their own Leopards to kyiv.

Poland has already sent a formal request to the Scholz government to authorize the re-export of those vehicles to Ukraine.

The UK has also announced the delivery of 14 of its Challenger tanks.

“To run a successful offensive you not only have to have a sufficient staffing, which the Ukrainians already have, but those staff have to be trained.

They have to have equipment, and they have to be trained” to use it, explained the head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, after the Ramstein meeting.

“The equipment has to be in sync with the staff, and the staff has to be trained on the equipment, and all of this has to be transported to the Ukraine, everything has to be organized in a coherent plan.”

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced in December plans to expand Russian troops through recruitment.

Moscow's goal is that by 2026 its army will have 1.5 million soldiers, an increase of 30%.

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