An American soldier stands on an American battle tank of the latest type Abrams M1A2 SEP v3 during the U.S. Army media day in Hohenfels, Germany, on May 11, 2023. (Photo: Daniel Löb/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The United States approved a shipment of the first batch of M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine, U.S. Army Acquisition Chief, Doug Bush announced on Aug. 7.
They are expected to arrive in Ukraine in early fall.
Bush said that not only the tanks will be transferred, but a complete package of equipment needed to support and maintain them.
"Ammunition, spare parts, fuel equipment, repair facilities. So you know, it's not just the tanks, it's the full package that goes with it. That's still on track,” he added.
Washington announced the decision to equip Ukraine with 31 Abrams tanks in late January. They are now expected to arrive in September, with several vehicles being dispatched to Germany in August, to undergo final repairs and modernization.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
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Alexander Khrebet
