Russia Vows to Destroy US Tanks

Russia Vows to Destroy US Tanks

(RightWing.org) – A months-long deadlock on supplying modern tanks to Ukraine has just broken, thanks to a move by the US. President Biden has agreed to send Abrams tanks to the embattled nation, forcing Germany to stop blocking deliveries of its Leopard 2s models. Russia is furious and has vowed to destroy the American armor.

For months, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been asking the west to supply modern main battle tanks (MBTs) to his army. Kyiv says with 300 good tanks to act as an armored spearhead, it can break through Russian defenses and liberate its occupied land.

The tank Ukraine really wants is the German-made Leopard 2; it’s fast, easy to maintain, and because 13 NATO members use it — and several have offered to donate tanks to Ukraine — there’s a huge stock of spare parts available. However, up to now, Germany has been refusing to either donate any of its own tanks or allow other users to re-export theirs.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, perhaps wary of Russia retaliating by blocking future gas deliveries, has insisted his country can’t “go it alone” on tank deliveries. However, on January 14, the UK offered to send 14 Challenger 2 MBTs, turning up the pressure on Germany. Ten days later, President Biden agreed to send up to 31 M1A2 Abrams tanks. That decision finally backed Scholz into a corner; he’s now agreed to give Ukraine at least 14 Leopard 2s — and, more importantly, stop blocking countries like Poland from sending more.

Predictably, Russia has responded angrily to the news. On Tuesday, Newsweek reported Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, had warned, “American tanks without any doubt will be destroyed as (sic) all other samples of NATO military equipment.” If the threat is supposed to deter the US from donating tanks, it isn’t going to work.

Russia has been trying to destroy Ukraine’s US-made HIMARS rocket artillery systems for months — and has failed repeatedly. Abrams tanks have fought Russian-made T-72s before, in Iraq, and defeated them every time. It isn’t likely to be any different in Ukraine.

Copyright 2023, RightWing.org