Reuters: The USA may announce today the delivery of 30 “Abrams” for the Ukrainian Armed Forces

Today, the USA can announce the decision to transfer 30 American Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine. The delivery process could take months, Reuters reported, citing three unnamed U.S .officials.

Two officials say the Abrams delivery will most likely go through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) fund. It allows the administration of the President of the United States to obtain weapons from industry, rather than from the Pentagon stockpile.

The White House could also use USAI to buy Abrams from allies, repair them, and then ship them to Ukraine, one of the officials said.

This process can take months or even years.

• On January 20, the eighth meeting of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine was held at the Rammstein Air Base in Germany. German Defense Minister Borys Pistorius said that the Western allies at the Rammstein-style meeting have not yet reached an agreement on providing Ukraine with Leopard 2 main battle tanks. According to him, Germany does not block this decision.
• At the same time, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov informed that the Ukrainian military will already begin training to operate Leopard tanks. This means that as soon as a political decision on deliveries is made, the Ukrainian army will be able to use these tanks immediately.
• White House spokesman for national security and defense John Kirby said that Germany is going through "its own process" on the issue of providing Leopard tanks to Ukraine. According to him, the United States does not put pressure on the Germans.
• According to Business Insider, a former German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, before her resignation, banned the Bundeswehrʼs inventory of tanks in order to delay the governmentʼs response to the supply of Leopard tanks to Ukraine.