Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday the US would expedite the deployment of US M1 Abrams tanks for delivery in Germany in May to prepare Ukrainian troops for training on the advanced equipment.
Speaking from Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany after the 11th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Austin said the decision was made to “provide Ukraine with more armored capabilities in the coming months.”
“The M1 that the Ukrainians will use for training [will] arrive here in Germany in the next few weeks,” he added. “All of this is huge progress.”
U.S. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 70th Armored Regiment, 1st Infantry Division train with M1A2 Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles in Nowa Deba, Poland, April 12, 2023. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON ATTEMPTS TO PROTECT CONCERNS AMONG ALLIES AFTER AN INTELLIGENCE LEAK
On Friday, Fox News exclusively took part in the military training of Ukraine’s special forces and territorial defense members – who will return to the front lines in the coming days – at an undisclosed location where troops were being trained for weapons testing and assault operations.
“We know what to expect and we train for it every day,” a Ukrainian soldier told Fox News.
U.S. and Polish soldiers unite in Nowa Deba, Poland, to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank, aided by Poland’s acquisition of 250 U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams tanks on April 12, 2023. (Artur Widak/ Photo via Getty Images)
RUSSIAN Putin-sympathetic mercenaries target UK with cyber threats over war in Ukraine: report
The US-supplied Abrams tanks, expected to arrive in May, will be used to train Ukrainian soldiers in a 10-week course, although the 31 tanks earmarked for training will not be sent to Ukraine for its war effort under the Washington previously promised package will be sent year.
The US is working to overhaul another 31 Abrams tanks for front-line service in Ukraine later this year.
Reports in March indicated that Abrams tanks would not make it to Ukraine until the fall, and it remains unclear whether Washington intends to supply Kiev with this advanced armored capability within a shorter timeframe.
In addition, Germany and Poland have signed a joint memorandum on a repair system for Leopard 2 tanks damaged in the war in Ukraine.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, left, and Mark A. Milley, U.S. General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Armed Forces, speak to reporters during the closing statement of the U.S.-led Ukraine Contact Group meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday. (Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The repairs, which are expected to cost up to $220 million a year, will be funded equally by the two NATO countries, with a hub near the Ukrainian border in Poland.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he expected work on the repair center to begin at the end of May.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.