US and Germany send tanks to boost Ukraine’s defensive firepower against Russia

President Biden provides 31 new M1 Abrams tanks while Berlin provides 14 Leopard 2s

Germany and the United States will send battle tanks to Ukraine as part of a coordinated Western effort to boost Kyiv as Russia’s invasion enters its 12th month.

Washington will provide 31 new M1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks accompanied by eight M88 recovery vehicles – heavily-armoured tow trucks used to rescue tanks that have been disabled or damaged in battle.

The US announcement came hours after Germany finally committed to sending 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks from its own stocks. Berlin had said the Leopards would not be sent unless the US put its Abrams on the table, given the likely response from Russia.

“This is the result of intensive consultations, once again, with our allies and international partners,” said the German chancellor Olaf Scholz. “It was right, and it is important that we didn’t let ourselves be driven into making the decision.”

In the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Joe Biden said he was taking the step of providing Ukraine with tanks at the recommendation of the US defence secretary Lloyd Austin.

“With spring approaching, Ukrainian forces are working to defend the territory they hold and preparing for counteroffensives to liberate their land.

“They need to counter Russia’s tactics and strategy on the battlefield in the very near term. They need to prove their ability to manoeuvre in open terrain. They need an enduring capability to deter and defend against Russian aggression over the long term,” he said.

Mr Biden said delivering the tanks would “take time” but stressed that the US would use that time to “make sure the Ukrainians are fully prepared to integrate them into their defences”.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has been pressing allies for tanks and other heavy armoured vehicles that can counter Russian armour and enable Ukrainian troops to more easily retake territory controlled by Moscow’s forces.

Mr Biden also said he spoke by phone with Mr Scholz ahead of the White House announcement as well as to French president Emmanuel Macron, the prime minister Rishi Sunak and Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni.

A senior defence department official said the provision of enough tanks to equip a full Ukrainian battalion, combined with the previously-announced supply of Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles and eight-wheeled Stryker armoured vehicles, is part of “ensuring that we deliver a full capability to the Ukrainians”.

Because the Abrams tanks bound for Ukraine will be procured through the US Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and not provided from existing stocks, the official said it will take “some time” to deliver the vehicles, but stressed that the US is working to establish a “comprehensive training programme” for the Ukrainian troops who will operate and maintain the complex weapons and propulsion systems.

The official also said the Pentagon is currently “working through the mechanisms” needed to provide Ukraine with support infrastructure for the Abrams, including spare parts and the aircraft-type fuel required by the tank’s Honeywell gas turbine engine.

Nato’s secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Germany’s decision. “At a critical moment in Russia’s war, these can help Ukraine defend itself, win and prevail as an independent nation.” But Russia’s ambassador to Germany, Sergey Nechayev, called Berlin’s decision to send tanks “extremely dangerous”, saying it “shifts the conflict to a new level of confrontation and contradicts the statements of German politicians about their reluctance to get involved in it”.