President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, September 25 announced that Ukraine has acquired US Abrams battle tanks, providing a significant enhancement to Kyiv’s military capabilities as they endeavor to penetrate the strongly fortified Russian defensive positions.
Ukraine has received US Abrams battle tanks, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Monday, boosting Kyiv’s forces as they seek to break through heavily-fortified Russian defensive lines.
The announcement came just after Ukraine claimed it had killed the commander of Russia’s Black Sea fleet in a missile strike on Moscow’s naval headquarters in Crimea last week in what would be a major embarrassment for Russia.
Zelensky did not elaborate on how many tanks had arrived, nor on how long it would take for them to be deployed to the front line.
Washington had promised to provide 31 Abrams tanks to Kyiv at the start of the year, part of more than $43 billion in security assistance pledged by the United States since Moscow invaded in February last year.
The strike dealt a serious blow to Moscow, which has suffered a string of attacks on the strategically important port of Sevastopol over the past months.
Russia launched overnight attacks on Ukraine, with officials reporting at least four deaths in air strikes in the southern Kherson region and the grain-exporting port of Odesa.
Since July, when Moscow pulled out of a UN-brokered deal allowing safe grain shipments via the Black Sea, Russia has ramped up attacks on Ukraine’s grain-exporting infrastructure.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
