![]() In open terrain, tanks can lead, allowing infantry to follow safely. More generally, he said, tanks can allow for more effective use of infantry. "The purpose is to continue the isolation of Crimea from everything else." With tanks from the West, Ukraine could create an armored brigade that could serve as "the spearhead of a force that could break through those Russian defenses down towards Mariupol," Hodges said. In seizing Mariupol and the land around it, Russian forces essentially established a land bridge from Russia and the Donbas region of Ukraine to Crimea.Ĭonsider This from NPR Where The Ukraine War Goes Next Russia has controlled Crimea since illegally annexing it in 2014, but before the invasion last year, Crimea's only connection to Russia was a long road and rail bridge. Russia's major victory of the war so far has been its control of Ukrainian territory between the Donbas and Crimea. official who spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to speak publicly. hopes the shipments of battle tanks could evolve Ukrainian capabilities in the conflict, particularly in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which has been contested since 2014, said a senior U.S. "The ability for us to train the Ukrainians to conduct these very complex maneuvers is really key for them building combat capability as they push forward with their offensive," said Raphael Cohen, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, in an interview with NPR earlier this month. announced that it would train large units of Ukrainian soldiers in combined arms tactics, in which large-scale military operations use different kinds of weaponry together, including aircraft, artillery and armor (like tanks). Still, Western tanks could play a role this spring, when both Russia and Ukraine are widely expected to launch renewed efforts in the conflict, he said. There is no one thing that's just going to completely change the whole conflict," said retired U.S. That's a rosier picture than the one painted by Western military experts. Ukraine invasion - explained Putin has only 1 option left but won't accept it, says Ukraine's foreign minister They are built to move quickly over a variety of terrain and confront enemy armor - like the tanks Russia has been using on the ground in Ukraine since the first days of its invasion last year. The Leopard 2 was originally designed in the 1970s for the West German army in response to Soviet threats during the Cold War. ![]() The German-made Leopard 2 is one of the most well-reputed battle tanks in the world, perhaps second only to the U.S.-made M1 Abrams tank, military arms experts said. While the initial shipments fall far short of the 300 tanks Ukraine officials had hoped for, they mark a new phase of Western military support for the Ukrainian effort. The announcements follow a flurry of diplomacy, including at a meeting of defense officials last week at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. For weeks, Germany had faced growing pressure to provide some to Ukraine - or to allow other countries, like Poland, to send theirs. Much of the recent debate had centered on the Leopard 2, a German-made battle tank operated by about 20 countries worldwide, including more than a dozen NATO members. Ukraine invasion - explained U.S., NATO countries announce massive weapons package for Ukraine "But hundreds of 'thank you' are not hundreds of tanks," he said. "I can thank you hundreds of times, and it will be absolutely just and fair, given all that we have already done," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at this week's meeting of defense officials in Ramstein, Germany. Throughout the winter, Ukrainian officials have pressed the West for hundreds of modern battle tanks like those made by the U.S. announced plans to send 31 M1 Abrams tanks. Germany will send an initial shipment of 14 Leopard 2 battle tanks, and allow other countries to send their own, said Chancellor Olaf Scholz. both announced they would send modern battle tanks to Ukraine. On Wednesday, that hesitation evaporated when Germany and the U.S. and its NATO allies announced package after package of military aid to Ukraine, full of military vehicles, air defense systems, rockets and missiles, the West for months seemed to hesitate on the one thing Ukrainians have come to emphasize most: tanks. A German Leopard 2 battle tank pictured during a NATO training exercise in Lithuania last October.Įven as the U.S.
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