MOSCOW, Jan 24 US President Joe Biden is ready to send Ukraine 10 Abrams tanks in order to influence Germany's decision on the possible supply of Leopard tanks to Kyiv, Sky News Arabia reports, citing a senior representative of the US Department of Defense, who wished to remain anonymous.
«President (US) Joe Biden is ready to send 10 Abrams tanks to Ukraine to put pressure on Germany to send Leopard tanks,» the TV channel reported.
At the same time, the source said that the status of Germany's decision to send tanks to Ukraine «is not yet encouraging.» Despite Biden's likely readiness to send tanks, the channel's source admitted that «Chancellor Olaf Scholz has other calculations.»
Also, an anonymous source concluded that Kyiv will need a total of 500 tanks to be able to repel the upcoming maneuvers of the Russian army as spring approaches.
The United States and Germany, despite large arms supplies to Ukraine, have not yet begun to send their Abrams and Leopard tanks to Ukrainians, in contrast to the UK, which provided Challenger tanks. Earlier, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that following a meeting of the Contact Group for Support to Ukraine of NATO countries and their allies at the Ramstein airbase in Germany, it was not possible to reach a consensus on the supply of German Leopard tanks to Kyiv.
Earlier it was reported that the United States has not decided on the supply of its own Abrams tanks to Ukraine, realizing their importance for the spring campaign, but being aware of the complexity of their maintenance.
Earlier, Russia sent a note to NATO countries because of arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West would have a negative effect.