Deliveries of Leopard, Challenger and Abrams tanks to Ukraine will depend on the timing of training of the Ukrainian military, and Leopard and Challenger will most likely be involved in operations at the front by the summer. The Ukrainian service of the Voice of America was informed about this by the defense attaché of the Embassy of Ukraine in the USA, Borys Kremenetskyi.
The official noted that the training of the Ukrainian military on the Leopard and Challenger tanks, which should arrive from the West first, will take place in different countries and will take some time due to the complexity of the equipment.
"Now the "tank coalition" has been created - a number of countries are ready to provide us with tanks, it is about Leopard, Great Britain has promised to provide us with 14 Challenger tanks - these are the tanks that we can get practically in the near future, but they will require some training of the crew. There are initiatives by Great Britain, Poland and Germany to train our specialists, so it will take place in different countries. But it is necessary to understand that it is not only necessary to train the crew of the tank, but also to teach how to act in a coordinated manner as part of the units," Kremenecki said.
The attaché did not specify how long the training would last, but he predicted that the Ukrainian military will be able to use tanks on the battlefield already in the spring. "I don't think we will wait until the summer. We don't have time to wait," Kremenecki said.
At the same time, according to the attaché, American Abrams tanks will arrive in Ukraine last.
"Abrams is also a very complex piece of equipment. Abrams is provided to us under the USAI (Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative) program, which allocates funds for ordering and manufacturing these tanks. That is, it will take some time, I think it will be longer than receiving Leopard and Challenger I am not ready to talk about specific terms," Kremenecki said.
Meanwhile, the American Institute for the Study of War believes that the ability of the Ukrainian army to conduct counteroffensive operations depends on the speed of providing tanks. The expert of the analytical center, George Barros, in a comment to the Ukrainian service of the Voice of America, said: "Ukrainian officials have very clearly signaled the intention to conduct a counteroffensive in the winter. And I believe that the reluctance, lag and delays in providing tanks to Ukraine actually contributed to the fact that Ukraine did not do this during the winter So the sooner Ukraine gets tanks, the sooner it will be able to start the process of liberating its territory."
Among the countries that announced sending tanks to Ukraine: Spain, Sweden, Portugal, the Netherlands, Poland, Finland, France, Norway, Canada, Great Britain and the USA. In particular, the USA will send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, Germany plans to send 14 Leopard 2 tanks, and 14 Challenger 2 heavy tanks will come from Great Britain.
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