Biden: First American Abrams tanks to arrive in Ukraine next week

(Patria) - The first American M1 Abrams tanks will arrive in Ukraine "next week", US President Joe Biden said on Thursday, AFP reported.

"Next week, the first American Abrams tanks will be delivered to Ukraine," Biden said at the White House, alongside his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, who is on his second visit to the United States since Russia invaded his country in February 2022.

Biden also said he had "approved the next tranche of security assistance to Ukraine," which the Pentagon later estimated at $325 million.

The aid includes anti-aircraft defense missiles, missiles for HIMARS, anti-tank weapons, and artillery shells. The package does not include the long-range ATACMS missiles that Kyiv had requested.

There are also 155mm caliber shells containing cluster munitions, which Washington agreed to
deliver to Ukraine in July despite concerns about the long-term risk to civilians posed by unexploded bombs.

The United States has said it received assurances from Kyiv that it will minimize the risk the weapons pose to civilians, including not using the munitions in populated areas.

Washington promised Kyiv 31 Abrams tanks at the beginning of the year, part of more than $43 billion in security assistance that the United States has pledged over the last 18 months.

The tanks will be paired with 120mm armor-piercing depleted uranium ammunition. This ammunition is controversial due to its association with health problems, such as cancer and birth defects, in areas where it has been used in past conflicts, although it has not been definitively proven to have caused them.

The decision to supply Abrams tanks to Ukraine represented a reversal, as US officials had repeatedly said they were not suitable for Kyiv's forces due to their complexity.