US, Germany announce tanks for Ukraine as battle intensifies

The Nation  |  Jan 27, 2023

 US, Germany announce tanks for Ukraine as battle intensifies
WASHINGTON-The United States and Germany on Thursday announced deliveries of top-of-the-line tanks to Ukraine, sweeping aside their longstanding misgivings and signaling a new surge of Western support for an expected counteroffensive against the Russian invasion.

In a televised address, President Joe Biden promised 31 Abrams tanks, one of the most powerful and sophisticated weapons in the US army. Shortly before, Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave the green light to Germany sending 14 Leopard 2 tanks, a decision that opens the floodgates to several other European countries armed with Leopards to send their own contributions.

Although Western countries have already sent Ukraine everything from artillery to Patriot anti-missile defense systems, tanks were long considered a step too far, risking a widening backlash from Russia.

But with Ukraine gearing up for a counteroffensive to push back increasingly entrenched Russians in the east and south of the country, the allies are now scrambling to send the vital weapon before it’s too late.

Let’s not settle for less!

The latest twist in the biggest European conflict since World War II came as Russian forces tightened the screws on Bakhmut, an eastern town that Ukrainian forces have held for months in the face of mass artillery bombardments and what defenders describe as human wave attacks. Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malyar said that Russia with its “superior number of soldiers and weapons” was “trying to break through” in the Donetsk region.

Near Soledar, a frontline town recently captured by Russians, a Ukrainian unit commander told AFP that his troops were outnumbered. “They use people as cannon fodder,” he said. “We shoot and shoot and shoot, but after five minutes another wave of 20 enemies is coming at us.”

Flanked by his stern-faced secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, Biden said that ramping up of Western armaments for Ukraine’s military should not be seen as an attack on Russia.

“That’s what this is about -- helping Ukraine defend and protect Ukrainian land. It is not an offensive threat to Russia. There is no offensive threat to Russia,” Biden said.

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Ukrainians, who have lobbied Western capitals for months to end restrictions on weapons enabling their troops to take on the more heavily armed Russians, were jubilant.

President Volodymyr Zelensky called the pledge of US Abrams “an important step on the path to victory.” Russia made it clear sending heavy tanks would cross a dangerous new line. 

Moscow’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said US approval for Abrams deliveries would be “another blatant provocation against the Russian Federation.”

                 

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