The U.S. military will begin training Ukrainian troops on M1A1 Abrams tanks “within the next week,” Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder told American media on Tuesday.
About 250 Ukrainian soldiers will arrive in Germany this week to take part in the exercise, a military source close to the exercise told American media, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Ukrainians will train on 31 Abrams tanks that arrived in Germany earlier this month. Pentagon officials say another batch of armored vehicles, 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks, are being repaired in the United States and will be delivered to Ukraine by fall.
The training in Germany is expected to last around 10 weeks and will focus on how to drive the tanks, how to maneuver them in combined arms combat and maintain these vehicles, the source said.
According to the interlocutor, the structure of the course will be similar to the previous American training program for working on Bradley and Stryker armored fighting vehicles, which were supplied to Ukraine earlier this year.
The Abrams’ heavy armor and 1,500 horsepower gas turbine engine make it far more advanced than the Soviet-era tanks Ukraine has used since the start of the war.
The Joe Biden administration announced in January that it would send an updated version of the Abrams tanks, known as the M1A2, to Ukraine after the production and purchase of these armored vehicles, which could take years.
In March, the administration decided instead to supply M1A1 Abrams tanks so that the tanks “would get into Ukrainian hands as soon as possible”, Pat Ryder said at the time.
Read the Ukraine War News Latest Today on The Eastern Herald.
