US to Start Training Ukrainian Military with Abrams Tanks in Coming Weeks – Associated Press

The US will begin training the Ukrainian military to operate Abrams tanks in the coming weeks.

Associated Press, citing officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, notes that the US side wants to deploy tanks to the battlefield in Ukraine as soon as possible.

An official announcement on the training of the Ukrainian military on Abrams tanks will be made later on Friday, 21 April.

The officials stated that the 31 tanks would be delivered to the Grafenwoehr training ground in Germany in late May, after which Ukrainian troops would begin training in a few weeks. It will last about ten weeks.

The tanks on which the Ukrainian military will train will not be among those that the United States will provide to Kyiv. Instead, the United States has been preparing 31 M1A1 battle tanks to be sent to the front line.

The point is that Ukrainian troops will be trained until the prepared tanks are ready and able to perform combat missions.

As the officials state, about 250 Ukrainian soldiers will receive training; some will learn to drive tanks, while others will learn to repair and maintain them.

"Additional training on how to fight and maneuver with the tanks could also be provided after the initial 10 weeks," they say.

The Biden administration announced its intention to send tanks to Ukraine in January. It took this step after months of insisting that the vehicles were too complex and challenging to maintain and repair.

Initially, the US planned to send Ukraine 31 more advanced M1A2 Abrams tanks, which could take a year or two to produce and deliver.

However, in late March, Washington decided that Ukraine would receive an older version of the Abrams, which would galvanise training by the Ukrainian military and its transfer.