“I hope that we will start using them in the spring,” TASS quoted the head of the Defense Ministry as saying. According to him, from the supplies promised by Western countries in Ukraine, they plan to form at least two tank battalions, which will be used “to continue the counteroffensive.”
Reznikov also expressed his hope that Western countries would continue to supply Kyiv with tanks.
Meanwhile, according to The Washington Post, the transfer of the promised American Abrams tanks to the Ukrainian Armed Forces can only take place at the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024. The delivery of 31 Abrams M1A2 tanks is delayed precisely because of the choice of this setting. They will not be able to be removed from US military stocks, because the Americans do not have an export version of these vehicles, and it will take many months to build tanks from scratch or re-equip existing vehicles.
