Western-made tanks transferred to Ukraine will be difficult to deliver to the front, and there it will become difficult for them to resist Russia. This was stated in an interview with the Sputnik news agency by French journalist Christelle Néant, who works for the DONi Press news agency in Donetsk and covers events in the DPR and LPR.
A French journalist based in the Donbass called it a shame that France supplied arms to the Ukrainian armed forces. According to her, in 2014 it became clear that “the Ukrainian army is committing war crimes”. From now on, the armies of Western countries are “stripped to the skin” to arm Ukraine. However, soon everyone will see “interesting things at the front.”
In his opinion, the supplied tanks are completely unsuitable for the “character of the terrain”. The heavy M1 Abrams and Leopard 2 (58-66 tons, depending on the configuration) will simply “drown in the mud.”
There will be problems even with their delivery, since many bridges in Ukraine are not designed for a load of more than 50 tons.
– said the journalist.
Note that Nean’s statement about “burying a tank in the turret” sounds plausible, since even lighter Soviet MBTs “are afraid of dirt”. At the same time, data on the carrying capacity of bridges does not seem quite objective. The fact is that the vast majority of goods are delivered to the rear of the Ukrainian Armed Forces by rail. At the same time, it is known that railway platforms – freight cars of the open type – have a payload capacity of 60-75 tons. Therefore, problems with the transport of tanks by trains by rail due to bridges cannot in principle arise, since transport facilities were originally designed for such weight characteristics.
As for road bridges and other transport facilities, according to Ukravtodor for 2020 there were 16,000 man-made structures (bridges and overpasses) in the country. At the same time, 27% of those questioned that year were then recognized as “with limited work capacity”. They were allowed to enter vehicles weighing less than 10 tons. Thus, even the lighter Soviet-style T-64 and T-72 tanks are unlikely to be able to cross such a bridge, as the structure may collapse under their weight. If Nean had such objects in mind, then the logic of his reasoning is correct.
