Ukraine is pressing its case with Western countries for battle tanks and other vehicles that could help in future operations against Russia.
Any introduction of modern Western tanks would enhance Ukraine’s ability to carry out modern combined-arms warfare, in which a military blends its infantry on foot and in vehicles with other forces, including artillery, tanks and aviation, said Mark Cancian, a senior national security analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.“Having them work together provides synergy,” said Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel.
Poland and the Czech Republic have sent a few hundred Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine, with Britain and Germany combining to backfill those countries’ supplies with more modern weapons. Germany also pledged to send Greece, another NATO member, its Marder infantry fighting vehicles as Greece sent Soviet-era infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine.But no NATO country has pledged to provide Ukraine with modern tanks or infantry fighting vehicles, irking Zelensky’s administration.
Ukrainian officials have not said how many modern tanks they want. About 120 of them would be enough to equip three Ukrainian battalions, with 500 to 1,000 main-gun rounds per tank and accompanying machine-gun ammunition “the minimum that could make a difference,” said retired Army Maj. Gen. William Nash, who commanded a tank brigade in Operation Desert Storm and the 1st Armored Division in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
“Everybody likes to talk about the Russians reaching the culmination point” of their offensive, in which military forces cannot continue because of exhaustion and attrition, Nash said. But the Ukrainians, too, “will reach the culmination point of their offensive.”Nash said that if he were commanding Ukrainian forces, he would be asking for Leopard tanks now and saying that they are needed for the current campaign.
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