week of political conflict among Western allies on whether to arm Ukraine? advanced battle tank a resolution appears to be near, with the Biden and German administrations expected to announce that each side will send the tanks Kiev has been looking for for months.
The move to deploy Leopard 2 tanks from Germany and the US sent M1 Abrams tank potentially prompting some European countries to ask for permission from Germany to send the Leopard 2 from their stockpile, significantly raising the number of potential modern tanks for Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to announce the government’s decision on Wednesday.
But once the diplomatic wrangling is over, the hard part will begin: bringing heavily armored vehicles and other combat trucks to the battlefield as Russia prepares for a new assault expected on Russia. spring or earlier.
US officials say it could take years for Abrams tanks to reach any Ukrainian battlefield. But Moscow has stepped up its threats, with Russia’s Ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov call the move sent Abrams a “blatant provocation” and warned that “American tanks will certainly be destroyed.”
The process of supplying Western weapons and other military equipment to Ukraine was one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war. Fears that Russia will target road, rail or staging grounds for the matériel as it is moved to the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine have demanded what officials and experts describe. are stealth convoys, often covered in darkness or camouflage, to avoid attack.
Russia is not known to have successfully attacked a large convoy of Western weapons being transported into Ukraine, and experts have described the process of transporting massive weapons and vehicles into the region. The conflict is like a game of cat and mouse that Ukraine won.
“In public, nobody knows how this is going,” said Heinrich Brauss, former assistant secretary-general of NATO, now at the German Council on Foreign Relations. “I’m not even sure the capitals know the details. But they manage it.
The risks – and concerns about provoking Russia – are so great that the Ukrainian military has to obtain weapons from depots on NATO territory rather than having Western forces or contractors transport them to the conflict zone. .
Nikolai Sokov, an expert at the Vienna Center for Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation and a former Russian diplomat, said that a Russian attack on a weapons convoy would ” Not only will it delay future deliveries, but it will affect at least a significant portion of modern armor before it reaches the front lines.”
A Pentagon spokesman last week declined to discuss efforts to provide more than $27 billion in weapons and security assistance that the Biden administration has committed to Ukraine, much of which includes since the start of the war in February last year. But former Western military officials and experts have described a patchwork of shipping routes, largely emanating from hubs in Poland, Slovakia and Germany, that will be crucial to bringing tanks and combat vehicles. battle armored and big guns to the front line.
Most weapons will be transported on flat wagons or trucks strong enough to carry their enormous weight. Railways are generally the fastest and safest way to transport armored vehicles, experts say, as long convoys of trucks are likely to attract Russia’s attention. Experts say it will take too much time, fuel and spare parts to bring tanks and other armored vehicles to the battlefield. In essence, they will also become moving targets for Russian warplanes.
General Robert B. Abrams, a four-star former US Army general who retired in 2021 with decades of experience with the tank named after him dad, echoing the concerns of some Pentagon leaders, who argued that it would be difficult for the Ukrainian military to repair and maintain a fleet of gas-guzzling tanks. And that’s after getting them there.
“How long will it take to get there — to be able to build supply stocks, transport vehicles, train crew, train mechanics, gather everything you need — how long will it take? ” General Abrams said in an interview. “I don’t know, but it’s not 30 days, I can tell you that.”
However, the impact of the Abrams and its 120 mm cannon on Russia’s inferior tanks is undisputed, he said.
“It will tear them apart,” General Abrams said. “It will create a hole in anything.”
John Ismay contribution report.
