A Pentagon official said on Tuesday that the United States plans to speed up the delivery of Abrams tanks to Ukraine as soon as this autumn to defend itself against Russian forces.
In January, the US pledged to supply Ukraine with 31 advanced M 1 A 2 Abrams tanks after months of shunning the idea of deploying the difficult-to- maintain tanks to Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February 2022.
A US official and a source familiar with the situation told Reuters about the change in the timing of delivery.
One official said that the new plan would give Ukraine the M 1 A 1 SA Abrams tank variant, which can run on diesel fuel like the majority of the Ukrainian fleet. The change also speeds up delivery by about a year, according to a congressional aide briefed on the matter.
In close coordination with Ukraine, the Pentagon has decided to provide the M 1 A 1 variant of the Abrams tank, which will allow us to speed up delivery timelines and deliver this important capability to Ukraine by the fall of this year.
The Department of Defense had not offered a specific date to get the tanks into Ukrainian hands, but Ryder said on Tuesday that the previous timeline had been in excess of a year.