WSJ: The USA may send a “significant number” of “Abrams” tanks to Ukraine

The administration of the U.S. President Joe Biden is inclined to transfer a "significant number" of Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine.

This was reported by unnamed American officials to The Wall Street Journal.

The decision will be part of a wider diplomatic deal with Germany in which Berlin will agree to send fewer of its own Leopard 2 tanks and approve the delivery of more German-made tanks by Poland and other countries.

An anonymous high-ranking German official noted that this issue was the subject of intense negotiations between Washington and Berlin. According to the WSJ, on January 17, after a conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to consider providing Abrams tanks in defiance of the Pentagonʼs decision.

Previously, the Pentagon ruled out the possibility of providing tanks to Ukraine, believing that they are too difficult to maintain and operate.

• 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 announced 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.