A new aid package for Kiev was also revealed by the US President, but long-range ATACMS missiles were not included in it.
As he spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart, Vladimir Zelensky, at the White House, US President Joe Biden declared that the first American Abrams M1 tanks would be in Ukraine within days.
Following the Thursday meetings, Biden vowed that “the first US Abrams tanks will be delivered in Ukraine next week.”
The US president claimed to have “approved the next tranche of security assistance” for Kiev as well.
The package, which the Pentagon later valued at $325 million, reportedly includes artillery rounds, anti-tank weaponry, ammunition for HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, and air defences.
The latest tranche of military assistance does not include the long-range ATACMS missiles that Kiev had been asking from Washington for months.
Insisting that “the future of freedom” lies at the centre of US support for Ukraine, Biden vowed that “America can never, will never walk away from this.” Additionally, he told Zelensky, “We’re with you. And we’re sticking around.
The president of Ukraine praised Vice President Biden and the American people for all of their assistance throughout the conflict with Russia, stating that the latest aid package was “exactly what our soldiers need.”
The US promised to provide 31 Abrams M1 battle tanks to Kiev in January. These tanks will be of the more traditional M1A1 variety, lacking some of the more modern technology. Along with the tanks, Washington will also provide Kiev 120mm depleted uranium shells. According to certain studies, the populace in places where such shells have been utilised has been affected by cancer, congenital defects, and other health issues.
Nearly four months after Kiev’s counteroffensive began, the 70-ton Abrams M1s will land in Ukraine. They will also do so before the region’s mud season, which could greatly impede any offensive operations. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Gen. Mark Milley, stated to the BBC last week that Ukraine had “about 30 to 45 days’ worth of fighting weather left.”
Since the beginning of the counteroffensive, Kiev’s forces have employed Leopard 2 tanks and Bradley combat vehicles, losing a significant number of each kind. Early in September, British Challenger 2s were also seen fighting on the front lines. Russian forces are said to have destroyed at least two of those tanks, and London has verified the loss of one.
Ukraine has been unable to accomplish its stated goal of dividing the Russian front in half in the Zaporozhye Region despite deploying Western equipment. Only a few tiny settlements that were far from the main Russian defence lines were taken by Kiev during its counteroffensive. The Ukrainian military has lost more than 71,000 soldiers and more than 540 tanks since the start of the summer, according to remarks made by Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.
