By Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States aims to break the dynamic of grinding warfare and near-frozen front lines in Ukraine with newly announced military capabilities that it hopes will breath fresh momentum into Kyiv's battle against Russian forces, a senior Pentagon official said on Wednesday.
But Colin Kahl, the Pentagon's top policy adviser, said the Pentagon still wasn't prepared to meet Kyiv's calls for gas-guzzling M1 Abrams main battle tanks.
"I just don't think we're there yet," said Kahl, who had just returned from a trip to Ukraine. "The Abrams tank is a very complicated piece of equipment. It's expensive. It's hard to train on. It has a jet engine."
Kahl's remarks came ahead of this week's gathering of top defense officials from dozens of countries at the U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany to coordinate military aid for Kyiv.
The United States has committed roughly $24 billion to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian forces, including a new $3.5 billion package announced this month that includes Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, self-propelled howitzers, armored personnel carriers, surface-to-air missiles and ammunition.
U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said President Joe Biden's administration is next expected to approve Stryker armored vehicles for Ukraine.
Pressure has been mounting on Germany to send its Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine — or at least approve their transfer from third countries.
But Germany appears to want to tie any such contribution to a U.S. decision on Abrams. A German government source told Reuters Germany would allow German-made tanks to be sent to Ukraine to help its defense against Russia if the United States agrees to send its own tanks.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is due to meet with Germany's new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius in Berlin on Thursday.
Kahl noted Britain's commitment to send 14 of its Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, and, without confirming any German conditions on providing the Leopard, said: "I think if there is a concern about being alone in providing this capability, that shouldn't be a concern."
"But at the end of the day, you know, the German government is going to make a sovereign decision," the U.S. defense official said.
Kahl also praised Germany's contributions so far.
"I think we should give Germany an enormous amount of credit for their generosity toward Ukraine to date," he told reporters at the Pentagon.
Front lines have hardened in Ukraine since Kyiv wrested back significant territory in the east and south in the second half of 2022. Kahl described brutal, World War One-style engagements, with advances measured in blocks.
"Really what we're focused on is surging those capabilities to Ukraine for the next phase of the conflict to really try to change that dynamic and continue the momentum that the Ukrainians had in the late summer and early fall," Kahl said, echoing comments in Washington on Tuesday by British foreign minister James Cleverly.
The U.S. provision of Bradley fighting vehicles, combined arms training, and other new weaponry for the Ukrainians is meant to enable Kyiv to change the dynamic of static defenses "by being able to fire and maneuver through the use of more mechanized forces," Kahl said.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis)
Wagner said on Jan. 11 it had captured Soledar, and Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region said earlier this week they were in control of the salt-mining town, where intense fighting has taken place. The RIA FAN website – part of Prigozhin's media holdings – quoted a Wagner commander as saying the mercenary company would send the bodies from Soledar to Ukrainian-held territory in four or five convoys totalling about 20 trucks. Saturday's report did not say how many bodies would be returned to Ukrainian authorities, but said Ukraine's forces had suffered heavy losses in Soledar.
About 50 defense leaders from around the world wrapped up a meeting in Germany on Friday without an agreement to send tanks to Ukraine. We’ll talk more in-depth about the tanks decision and how Kyiv has responded to the news. We’ll also discuss new sanctions against Russia’s Wagner Group and three U.S. Marines who were…
Billions of dollars in new Western military aid, including infantry fighting vehicles – though no German tanks – will gird Ukraine for counterattacks to foil Moscow's efforts to revive its faltering invasion. But Kyiv needs other weapons systems to win decisively and, while Russia is readying for a protracted war, it is unclear if defence production – in Europe at least – can keep up military aid at a high level, military analysts said. The United States and Finland announced new packages of $2.5 billion and 400 million euros (some $430 million)in military aid ahead of Friday's Ramstein Air Base talks, which failed to break the deadlock on the idea of supplying German-built Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
(Bloomberg) — Germany’s new defense minister, Boris Pistorius, signaled that the government in Berlin may change its position on supplying — or allowing allies to supply — Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine. Most Read from BloombergHolmes Belongs in Prison, Not $13,000-a-Month Manor, US SaysGoogle to Cut 12,000 Jobs in 6% Reduction of Global WorkforceMore Young Americans Are Dying, But Not From VaccinesGoogle Staff Anxiety Runs High After 12,000 Colleagues CutBeyonce Launches $100,000-a-Night Duba
If the United States and China were to cooperate in this project, who could stop us?
(Bloomberg) — Most Read from BloombergHolmes Belongs in Prison, Not $13,000-a-Month Manor, US SaysGoogle to Cut 12,000 Jobs in 6% Reduction of Global WorkforceMore Young Americans Are Dying, But Not From VaccinesGoogle Staff Anxiety Runs High After 12,000 Colleagues CutBeyonce Launches $100,000-a-Night Dubai Resort’s Luxury BetNo decision was made on the provision of Germany’s Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine at Friday’s meeting on Friday at Ramstein Air Base, although Berlin ordered a review of
The United States will impose additional sanctions next week against Russian private military company the Wagner Group, which U.S. officials say has been helping Russia's military in the Ukraine war, the White House said on Friday. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S. Treasury Department will designate Wagner as a significant Transnational Criminal Organization.
The U.S. announced another $2.5 billion in military aid for Ukraine on Thursday, bringing the total security assistance to $26.7 billion since Russia invaded.
The U.S. will send 90 Stryker combat vehicles and an additional 59 Bradley fighting vehicles to Ukraine, in addition to hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, the Pentagon announced on Thursday. It is the latest aid package timed to help Ukraine push back against Russia's entrenched forward lines. The package, valued at $2.5 billion, does not include tanks, which has become a point of contention as Germany has indicated it will not send its own Leopard tanks to Ukraine unless the U.S. sends the Abrams.
The U.S. Treasury Department will impose additional sanctions on the Russian private military company, the Wagner Group, that has been aiding Russia's military in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced Friday that Treasury will designate Wagner as a significant transnational criminal organization in the coming days. The White House also released images of Russia taking delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea that it said was intended to help bolster Wagner forces as they fight side-by-side with Russian troops in Ukraine.
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A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Kyiv's allies on Saturday to "think faster" about stepping up their military support, a day after they failed to agree on sending battle tanks coveted by Kyiv. "You'll help Ukraine with the necessary weapons anyway and realize that there is no other option to end the war except the defeat of Russia," Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter. Ukraine's partners this week pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in new military aid but were unable to agree on sending the German-made Leopard 2 tanks Kyiv has long sought during a conference at the Ramstein Air Base on Friday.
The Russian occupiers claim to have destroyed an American M1 Abrams tank near the city of Soledar. The Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council refutes the propagandists' statements.
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Boris Pistorius, the Federal Minister of Defence of Germany, has announced a spring package of military aid to Ukraine worth of more than €1 billion. Source: Pistorius, on the sidelines of Ramstein Format Meeting; European Pravda, citing ZDF Details: According to Pistorius, the package will include 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, seven Gepard anti-aircraft self-propelled artillery systems, additional guided missiles for the Iris-T anti-aircraft missile system, and another Iris-T unit.
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