Pentagon Ukraine statement: It will take months
The US administration announced that Germany would send M1 Abrams tanks to address Germany’s concerns about the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, but it was a matter of curiosity when these tanks would go to Ukraine at the earliest.
“Is the US missing M1 Arbrams? Why didn’t you get them from the US inventory to get them into the war as soon as possible, but instead chose to buy them? Doesn’t their supply in this way mean tanks can’t be shipped sooner than a year?” Asked by the Pentagon’s deputy spokesman, Signh said: “The United States has no surplus tanks, so M1 Abrams tanks will take months. to get to Ukraine.” He gave the answer.
Stating that the tanks will be purchased with the money to be provided by the Ukraine Security Assistance Fund (USAI), Singh said that studies are continuing to determine the training, maintenance and upkeep processes for these tanks.
“WE ARE BEHIND THE EXPLANATIONS”
Responding to questions about why the US administration’s opinion that “Abrams tanks were not delivered to Ukraine on the grounds that there are great difficulties in their upkeep and maintenance” changed in a short time, Singh said:
“We support both the statements we made here and the statements by the Minister and the Chief of Staff. It will be very difficult to maintain and maintain them. However, after the Minister’s Ukraine Contact Group Meeting with partners and allies, we saw commitments to capabilities that could be delivered to the battlefield immediately or shortly. Our decision to release Abrams tanks is a manifestation of our long-term commitment as part of that. With our partners and allies announcing the weapons they would supply to Ukraine, it was only logical that we would announce it.”
It is said that the US administration is trying to extend the process of sending tanks to Ukraine as much as possible, behind the fact that the Abrams tanks are defined as a “long-term commitment” and are aimed at the buy instead of army inventory.
US DECISION TO PROVIDE TANKS TO UKRAINE
The US administration, citing maintenance, upkeep and training, claimed that the delivery of Abrams tanks to Ukraine was not appropriate at this stage.
It was claimed that at the meeting of the defense ministers of 50 countries, known as the Ukrainian Contact Group, on January 18-20 at the Ramstein base in Germany, with Ukraine’s agenda, Germany announced that it would not deliver tanks. to Ukraine. before the United States.
At the same time, Berlin did not give its approval to other countries that wanted to give German-made tanks to Ukraine, which caused controversy.
Germany’s reluctance to supply Ukraine with tanks before the United States and its refusal to approve the delivery of German-made tanks to the Ukrainian military by other states is said to have forced Washington to take a step.
At the same time that the US was making this decision, Germany also announced that it would deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and would approve other countries to deliver German-made tanks to Ukraine. (AA)