The United States announced the imminent arrival in Germany of more than 230 Abrams tanks for training the Armed Forces of Ukraine

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that over the next few weeks, more than 230 M1 Abrams tanks will be delivered to Germany, which are intended to train personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU), informed TASS.

“Those tanks that the Ukrainians will use for training will arrive here in Germany in the next few weeks,” Austin said following a meeting of the contact group on Ukraine, which is taking place in Ramstein (Germany).

According to him, the coalition members handed over to Ukraine over 230 tanks, more than 1,500 armored vehicles, as well as ammunition and other equipment. In addition, Austin stressed that Ukraine most of all needs ground-based air defense systems.

Politico edition citing two representatives of the Pentagon earlier wrotethat in the coming weeks, the United States will begin training Ukrainian forces in the use and repair of American tanks. According to the interlocutors of the publication, about 30 tanks will arrive at the Grafenwehr training ground in Germany in May.

It was also noted that the training of about 250 Ukrainian servicemen will be conducted by the US 7th Army Training Command (7th ATC).

The Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized the supply of Western weapons to Kyiv. In particular, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, warned that pumping Ukraine with weapons brings NATO closer to the dangerous line of a direct military clash with Russia. The Kremlin said that the Leopard and Abrams tanks would burn down the same way as the rest of Western military equipment. Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, stressed that tanks would not save Ukraine, and State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin predicted the fate of the fascist Tigers for them.