UPDATE: Joe Biden AGREES to Give “Significant Number” of Abrams M1 Tanks to Ukraine – DESPITE RUSSIAN THREATS OF NUCLEAR WAR

The Biden administration is moving closer to sending Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine, according to the Wall Street Journal, a step that would provide diplomatic cover for Germany to send its own Leopard tanks and approve delivery from other nations

Biden administration could send ‘significant’ number of Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine after bitter row with Germany and as Putin plans major military offensive

• Report: The Biden administration is getting closer to sending tanks to Ukraine
• The move would unblock a diplomatic logjam, triggering Germany to follow suit
• US officials say German Leopard 2 tanks are better suited to local conditions 

The Biden administration is moving closer to sending Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine, a step that would provide diplomatic cover for Germany to send its own Leopard tanks and approve delivery from other nations.

A U.S. announcement could come as early as this week.

American officials have repeatedly said the sophisticated Abrams, which guzzles fuel and needs extensive training, would not suit Ukrainian forces.

But the decision would close a rift between the U.S., Germany and other European nations in how far to go in arming Ukraine ahead of what it is believed to be a key phase of the war, as Vladimir Putin plans major spring offensive.

President Volodmyr Zelensky has asked repeatedly for tanks as the next phase of the war in Ukraine looms, but President Joe Biden has adopted a cautious approach

Last week, the U.K. announced it was sending Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, but that did not spur the U.S. or Germany to immediately follow suit.

German officials are said to be worried about the sight of their tanks operating close to the Russian border, with echoes of the Nazi advance during World War II.

Meanwhile, European diplomatic sources have frequently expressed frustration with President Joe Biden’s cautious approach, which they say pays too much heed to Russia’s threats of escalation.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that that appeared to change after a Jan. 17 call between Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in which the U.S. president agreed to consider supplying Abrams.

A senior German official said the dispute appeared to be close to resolution.

At the same time, Poland on Tuesday morning officially asked for permission from Germany to supply Leopard 2 tanks to the war effort.

Ukrainian soldiers ride atop an infantry fighting vehicle during offensive and assault drills in the southern Zaporizhzhia region

A soldier fires a RPG-7 anti-tank grenade launcher during exercises earlier this week

German exports of their tank require Berlin to give approval before they can be re-exported.

Amid those developments, Russia further ratcheted up the tension.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, ‘these deliveries would bring nothing good to the future relationship’ between Berlin and Moscow, adding: ‘They will leave a lasting mark.’

It comes as Ukrainian advances at the end of last year stalled with frontlines static for the past two months.

Ukraine says tanks are crucial for the next phase of the war, giving its ground troops the protection and firepower to move ahead.

‘We need tanks – not 10-20, but several hundred,’ President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram.

‘Our goal is (restoring) the borders of 1991 and punishing the enemy, who will pay for their crimes.’

This year some allies have begun talking openly about the defeat of Russia, rather than a negotiated settlement.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly brought the message to Washington last week, when he said that Putin was more vulnerable than ever.

Last week, the UK said it would send Challenger 2 tanks (pictured above) to Ukraine

‘Until recently, his attacks on civilian infrastructure have been done with cruise missiles,’ he told the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

‘He’s now using ballistic missiles to do the same thing – much, much, much more expensive.

‘He’s doing it clearly because he’s running low on other munitions.

‘So this is the time, if we want to bring this to a successful conclusion – and, of course, we should and we do – we should look to bring it to a conclusion quickly.

‘The conclusion has to be a Ukrainian victory and that dictates, therefore, that we need to intensify our support at this point in time, while Russia has been on the back foot, to give the Ukrainians the tools they need to get the job done.’

Last week, discussions were held about the delivery of weapons from the West at the Ramstein airbase in southern Germany, but Scholz still held firm.

German defence group Rheinmetall said it could delivery 29 Leopard 2A4 tanks by April/May and a further 22 of the same model around the end of 2023 or early 2024, if Scholz gives the word.

It could also supply 88 older Leopard 1 tanks, a spokesman said.

REFERENCE:

• https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/breaking-joe-biden-considers-sending-significant-number-abrams-m1-tanks-ukraine-despite-warnings-nuclear-russia/
• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11671231/Biden-administration-moves-closer-sending-significant-number-Abrams-M1-tanks-Ukraine.html
• https://survivalmagazine.org/news/update-joe-biden-agrees-to-give-significant-number-of-abrams-m1-tanks-to-ukraine-despite-russian-threats-of-nuclear-war/

By: Miss Cherry May Timbol – Independent Reporter

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