Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin says the US military’s M1 Abrams tanks will arrive in Ukraine “soon” as part of Western aid aimed at helping Kiev defeat Russia.
The tanks were promised by Washington at the beginning of the year.
“I’m… pleased to announce that the M1 Abrams tanks that the United States had previously committed to will be entering Ukraine soon,” Austin said at the opening of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany on Tuesday.
The tanks will also be paired with the controversial 120mm armor-piercing depleted uranium rounds that are associated with health problems, including cancer and birth defects, in past conflict areas.
Following the US announcement of supplying Kiev with the munitions earlier this month, Russia said the US decision is as a clear sign of “inhumanity.”
Austin said the upcoming arms transfer comes as Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which was launched in June, “continues to make steady forward progress.”
Russia ramps up weapon production
As the war is raging in Ukraine and Western military aid continues to pour into Ukraine, Russia’s biggest weapons producer, Rostec, said the country has ramped up the production of military hardware.
Bekhan Ozdoev, industrial director of the armament complex at Rostec, said on Tuesday that production volumes for various types of weapons had risen between two and 10 times, while the output of other types had been increased “by tens of times.”
“We are going forward at cruising speed, smoke from all the pipes,” he said.
Ozdoev noted that the output of tanks, armored vehicles, rocket launchers, artillery, the Iskander short-range ballistic missile, the Pantsir medium-range surface-to-air missile system, and the hypersonic Kinzhal missile significantly increased.
Russia launched the military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Western countries have responded to the Russian military operation by backing Ukraine with cash and heavy weaponry while imposing unprecedented sanctions on Russian officials and entities.
Moscow has repeatedly warned that such a flow of weapons to Kiev will only prolong the conflict.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the US, alone, has pledged more than $43 billion in security aid to Ukraine.
