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.”
This might not be terribly relevant but Ukraine has in fact stellar strategic airlift capabilities, at least by European standards. Definitely better than Germany we don’t have An-124 to fly over to Australia on a whim and fetch a couple of Bushmasters. They have seven of them, when other European militaries need that kind of transport we lease exactly those.
And while A400Ms are in operation now and they are fine birds indeed, strategic transports they are not.
While I’m at it: RIP Mriya.
mriya :(