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The US Institute for the Study of War has estimated that the tanks that Western countries will donate to Ukraine will strengthen its mechanised troops, help defeat Russian forces and help liberate the occupied territory of the country.
The think tank has previously assessed that the West, through slow or limited arms deliveries to Ukraine, has contributed to the inability of the country’s military to break up Russian forces bogged down near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, as the new equipment would enable a major counter-offensive.
According to press reports and declarations by Western politicians, NATO countries will transfer modern basic tanks to Ukraine, ISW writes in its latest analysis.
US President Joe Biden is getting closer to a decision to send a significant number of M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported that a decision on the matter could be announced as early as Wednesday.
According to “Spiegel” on Tuesday, the German government has already decided to transfer at least one company of Leopard 2A6 tanks to Ukraine and to allow other countries to send these machines to Ukraine.
Also on Tuesday, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced that Poland had formally requested permission from Germany to transfer Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The Polish authorities declared that they would donate a company of tanks, or 14 machines, to Kyiv.
In mid-January, the UK government announced the donation of 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. France also does not rule out sending Leclerc tanks to Ukraine, as President Emmanuel Macron has said.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, said in December that his troops needed 300 basic tanks to carry out a counter-offensive, not counting other armaments, ISW recalls.