2023-04-21 19:52:00
(CNN) — The United States will begin training Ukrainian forces on how to operate the Abrams tanks next month as it aims to have them on the battlefield against Russia before the end of summer.
A set of 31 US M1A1 Abrams tanks, the size of a Ukrainian tank battalion, will be sent in mid-May to Grafenwoehr, Germany, where approximately 250 Ukrainians will undergo a 10-week training course with US troops, an official said. American journalists who were traveling with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
The tanks are a long-awaited military capability for Ukraine, which has been fighting Russia for more than a year.
Although the US initially said it would send the newer versions of the M1A2 tanks, officials indicated in March that the Ukrainians would get the M1A1, drastically speeding up the timetable for delivery of the tanks.
Austin said Friday at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany, that in total the group of allies and partners provided more than $55 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, including “more than 230 tanks and more than 1,550 armored vehicles and other equipment and ammunition”.
“It’s a lot of progress,” Austin said alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley. “And I am confident that this equipment and the training that goes with it will put the Ukrainian forces in a position to continue to rack up victories on the battlefield.”
US soldiers operate an M1A1 Abrams tank during a training exercise in Bemowo Piskie, Poland, on November 25, 2022.
In addition to the US-provided tanks, Ukraine will also receive German Leopard 2 tanks and British Challengers.
On Friday, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that Poland will host a maintenance center for Leopard 2 tanks.
“Modern Western technology will result in the defeat of Moscow. The sooner it happens, the sooner peace will come,” Reznikov added.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius noted that the tank center would cost around 150-200 million euros (about $164-219 million) per year and could be ready by the end of May.
The armored capability adds a powerful ground component to Ukrainian troops that have already endured more than a year of war. But the tanks may not have an immediate battlefield impact, given the length of training with Western armor and the significant logistical demands required to keep complex systems running.
“Those who say: ‘Just give him the damn tanks!’ They’ve probably never seen the choreography to make this work on the battlefield,” retired Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, the former commander of the US Army in Europe, previously told CNN. “In combat, if you mess something up, you cause disaster and failure. Lethal tanks become pillboxes that don’t move or shoot.”
Approximately 8,800 Ukrainian soldiers have already completed training in Germany and returned to Ukraine, Colonel Martin O’Donnell, spokesman for the US military in Europe and Africa, said in a statement released Friday. Currently, there are approximately 2,250 other Ukrainians undergoing combined arms training in Germany.
“Putin thought he could easily overthrow Kyiv’s democratically elected government. He thought the rest of the world would let him get away with it. He thought our unit would not last,” Austin said of the Russian leader. “But he was wrong, on every single count.”
In Germany on Friday, Milley said the tanks arriving for training in May “are not entirely combat-ready” and will be used “to train crews on how to fire, maneuver and maintain.”
And while Milley said he believes the tanks will be “very effective” on the battlefield against Russia, he stressed that they will be more effective as part of the equation.
“Wars are the result of battles, and wars are the operation of many, many variables,” Milley said. “And in this case, you would have to make sure that your tanks are used in combination with mechanized infantry, artillery, all of that synchronized with dismounted forces, and so on. So there is no silver bullet to win this war, although I do believe that when the M1 tank is delivered and reaches operational capacity it will be very effective on the battlefield.”
At the meeting on Friday, Reznikov said his country had been given the “green light” for “close cooperation” with the NATO procurement agency.
“Ukraine has reached unprecedented levels of interoperability with NATO. In fact, we are already part of the alliance’s security space,” Reznikov said. “I expressed my hope that this would speed up political decisions regarding our country’s integration into NATO.”
Milley said Friday that Ukraine’s military “continues to perform very well” in its fight against Russia.
“Russia continues to pay severely for its choice in favor of war,” he commented. “Unlike the Ukrainian forces, who are highly motivated to fight for their country, for their freedom, their democracy and their way of life, the Russians lack leadership, lack will, morale is low and discipline is eroding. ”.
This story has been updated with additional reports.
1682170952
#United #States #training #Ukrainian #forces #Abrams #tanks #month