First US M1 Abrams tanks to reach Ukraine next week: Biden
Washington, The Gulf Observer: The first US M1 Abrams tanks will arrive in Ukraine “next week,” US President Joe Biden has said, boosting Kiev’s forces as they battle Russian troops in a slow-moving counteroffensive.
“Next week, the first US Abrams tanks will be delivered in Ukraine,” Biden said at the White House, alongside his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is on his second visit to the United States since Russia invaded his country in February 2022.
Biden said there was “no alternative” to Congress supporting fresh military aid for Ukraine to fight Russia, after Republican lawmakers threatened to block a new package.
He also said he had “approved the next tranche of security assistance for Ukraine,” which the Pentagon later valued at $325 million.
It includes air defense missiles, ammunition for HIMARS precision rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons, and artillery rounds. But the package does not feature the long-range ATACMS missiles that Kyiv has repeatedly requested.
It does include 155mm rounds that contain cluster munitions, which Washington first agreed to provide to Ukraine in July despite concerns over the long-term risk posed to civilians by bomblets that fail to explode.
