Ukraine seeks modern tanks as Western allies remain in standoff | USA TODAY

Western allies including Poland and Germany remain in a standoff as Ukraine asks for tanks to aid in the fight against Russia in eastern Ukraine.

RELATED: Ukraine hit with round of deadly missile strikes by Russian forces

Billions in new military aid will bolster Ukrainian forces as they ready for a spring offensive, but defense leaders meeting in Germany failed to reach an agreement on sending more modern tanks to the war-torn country, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday.

Providing Ukraine with modern, western tanks has been a sticking point among allies. The United States has not agreed to Ukraine's request for U.S. Abrams tanks, citing its need for maintenance and jet fuel. Western allies support sending German-made Leopard tanks, which run on diesel fuel. However, Germany has not agreed to send Leopards, or to permit allies like Poland who operate them, to send the tanks to Ukraine.

Germany has not yet made a decision on sending Leopard tanks, Austin said. Austin declined to say if he was disappointed by Germany not sending the tanks but described the country as a "reliable ally," noting it has provided air defense systems and armored personnel carriers.

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32 comments

    1. Does that include ALL three times Putin has invaded Ukraine ONLY on compromised-Joe’s watch? It’s a cluster F and shouldn’t have occurred in the first place, and wouldn’t have if we didn’t have a corrupt moron, compromised by BOTH sides dirty millions, and involved other BOTH their corrupt energy deals..

    2. @Laure Bourgeois I kind of consider myself a budget hawk nerd.. I’d like to see your examples of the other side of the foreign aid accounting ledger that shows incoming credits juxtaposed to the 100s of billions we SHOVEL abroad.

  1. Tell them to build or buy them. Nobody helps us with our problems, return the favor and make our home the priority.

    1. @Gandalf Stormcrow Somebody got 100 billion from the US Gov’t. Seems pretty profitable. Then there’s insider trading politicians betting on the Military Industrial Complex while THEY manipulate the markets by fomenting war. So yeah. Pretty profitable. Make no mistakes. Putin is doing it too. Probably has a direct line to the Pentagon on which stocks to bet on.

    1. @Nimbus Nimbus IV lol “citizens of Donbass” – thanks for the chuckle. No one was dying in Eastern Ukraine until Russia showed up there. FSB Colonel Girkin started the war there in March of 2014 (right after Russia paid minimal consequences for annexing Crimea). Just like no one was dying in Kharkiv, Marioupil, Kyiv., etc., until Russia showed up in Feb, 2022. Amazing how many people want to shill for the russian empire.

  2. They had hundreds of tanks and you say they have been winning the whole time. Why on earth would they want more tanks?

  3. No matter what kind of propaganda the media puts fort, the comment section is always revealing, especially re this issue….

  4. Oh they shouldn’t worry, the American people have all voted to keep sending money, and weapons of war, to Ukraine. 🇺🇸

  5. If the west sent tanks to Ukraine, wouldn’t Russia simply point the missiles it is currently using on the country side to simply destroy the tanks instead? It seems to me like having a bunch of sitting ducks waiting for the kill. Only each tank costs ~ $6 million. How many missiles does Russia shoot at Ukraine each day? Ukraine could run through 100 tanks in a week or $1 billion of western aid in no time.

  6. Personally I think we should use this as an opportunity to upgrade NATO tank fleets. There are about 3-4000 T72, M48, M60, and Leopard 1 tanks still in NATO. These could be given to Ukraine with replacements coming in the form of M1A1 tanks that are mothballed in the US. This would lead to a stronger NATO force in Europe overall and ,though it would still weaken the alliance in the short term, the US could then upgrade its main tank fleet either to M1A2 sep v3 or to a new platform like the proposed Abrahms X.

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