The first U.S. Abrams tanks pledged to Ukraine have arrived in the country and are being prepared to send into battle, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Monday.
“Good news from Defense Minister [Rustem] Umerov. Abrams are already in Ukraine and are preparing to reinforce our brigades. I am grateful to our allies for fulfilling the agreements!” Zelensky wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Zelensky added that Ukraine is “looking for new contracts and expanding the geography of supply.”
The Pentagon confirmed the tanks arrived in Ukraine, with a spokesperson saying “the mere presence of Abrams tanks serves as a potent deterrent.”
“By having these tanks in their arsenal, the Ukrainian army can more effectively discourage aggressive actions,” the Defense Department spokesperson told The Hill. “We will continue to focus on what we can do to help Ukraine succeed on the battlefield and protect its people.”
From the videos and information I know about, the Ukrainian military is using them more like fast and heavily armory artillery in a lot of cases. They have a much better standoff distance than infantry but a much shorter range than actual artillery, they can redeploy with a quickness, and compared to Russia, they are really good at reclaiming hulls to refurbish and rebuild.
I recently learned that most of the damage that kills people is in the turret. So when a tank takes a bunch of damage they can tow out the hull, swap in a new turret, patch up any damage on the hull, replace a few armor panels, and replace it. It’s not easy, but it’s easier to repair and refurbish than building a whole new tank.
It turns out the Russians are not so good at retrieving tank hulls, and really enjoy just scuttling them and running away (assuming they survive and whole thing isn’t just trashed). Which is a whole tank hull that can never be used again.