President Biden announced Wednesday that he plans to send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine worth $400M, reversing the administration’s longstanding resistance to requests from Kyiv for the highly sophisticated but maintenance-heavy vehicles. The US President said that the Ukraine Defense Contact Group members are also sending additional military equipment following last week’s eighth meeting. In addition, he outlined the following equipment and weapons the Western allies are providing for Ukraine:
- The UK: Donating 14 Challenger 2 tanks
- Germany: 14 Leopard tanks
- France: Contributing AMX-10s, armored fighting vehicles, and air defense systems
- The US: 31 Abrams tanks and a Patriot missile battery
- The Netherlands: Donating a Patriot missilesnd launchers
- Poland: Sending armored vehicles
- Sweden: Donating infantry fighting vehicles
- Italy: Giving artillery
- Denmark and Estonia: Sending howitzers
- Latvia: Providing Stinger missiles
- Lithuania: Providing anti-aircraft guns
- Finland: Announced its largest package of security assistance to date