Ukrainian troops will train with Abrams tanks in the coming weeks in Germany

when last january USA promised – after a long refusal – to send 31 M1 Abrahams tanks to Ukraine, no one expected these to be ready for use before autumn. However, Volodímir Zelenski’s soldiers will begin training with these armored vehicles in the coming weeks in Germany. Much sooner than expected.

This was announced by the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin, this Friday during the meeting of the allies at the German Ramstein Air Base. According to the official, Ukrainian troops will receive training for ten weeks on how to use these battle tanksone of the most sophisticated (and heavy) on the market.

“I am sure that this equipment, and the training, will put the Ukrainian forces in a position to succeed on the battlefield“, he pointed out during the press conference after the summit in which 50 countries that have contributed to the defense of Ukraine have participated.

For his part, he General of the Army and Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milleylater indicated that “the tanks M1A2 Abrams, the best in the world, will make a difference in the war, but they are not a silver bullet“.

During this meeting, the allies have not made any big announcements, but have taken the opportunity to reiterate their commitment to contribute to Ukrainian air defense and the delivery of ammunition. In this sense, Milley also stated that the most “efficient” way to protect Ukrainian airspace it is through anti-aircraft defense systems, thus rejecting one of kyiv’s main arguments for asking for Western-made fighter jets.

[Stoltenberg afirma que Ucrania ingresará en la OTAN pero sin fecha: “La prioridad es ganar a Putin”]

Operations center in Poland

Germany, Poland and Ukraine have agreed to have an operational center for tanks Leopard 2 on Polish territorynear the Ukrainian border, where the maintenance or repair operations of these armored vehicles will be centralized, according to the agency efe.

“The idea is that they are as close as possible to Ukraine so that they can enter service as quickly as possible,” explained German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. Pistorius signed the corresponding agreement with their Ukrainian and Polish counterparts, Oleksii Reznikov and Mariusz Blaszczak, respectively, in a separate conversation with the defense ministers of Ukraine’s main Western allies.

The German minister also recalled the fundamental role that these battle tanks represent, as well as the purpose of adding up to a hundred of the previous model, the Leopard 1, to the already committed Leopard 2s throughout this year and next.