Ukraine news – latest: Abrams tanks pose ‘no offensive threat’ to Russia, insists Biden

The United States will provide 31 new M1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine as part of America’s efforts to help bolster Ukraine’s defence against the nearly year-old war being waged by Russia, multiple Biden administration officials have said.

The 31 tanks will be accompanied by eight M88 recovery vehicles — heavily armoured tow trucks used to rescue tanks that have been disabled or damaged in battle — and will be enough to equip an entire Ukrainian tank battalion with the American-made beasts, which first gained worldwide recognition for their firepower and armour capability during engagements with Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

Read this report from my colleague Andrew Feinberg to find out more about President Joe Biden’s commitments to Ukraine:

For months, US officials balked at sending M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, insisting they were too complicated and too hard to maintain and repair.

Yesterday, that abruptly changed. Ukraine’s desperate pleas for tanks were answered with a sweeping, trans-Atlantic yes.

The dramatic reversal was the culmination of intense international pressure and diplomatic arm-twisting that played out over the last week. And it resulted in a quick succession of announcements: The US said it will send 31 of the 70-ton Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine, and Germany announced it will send 14 Leopard 2 tanks and allow other countries to do the same.

A look at the massive battle weapon, why it is important to Ukraine’s war with Russia, and what drove the Biden administration’s tank turnabout:

Ukraine has declared an air raid alert over most of the country this morning, and regional authorities warned of a possible missile attack.

The DTEK electricity company said it was performing emergency shutdowns of electro power in the capital Kyiv, the rest of the Kyiv region, and also the regions of Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk due to a danger of missile attack.

Ukraine has declared an air raid alert over most of country, with the authorities warning of a possible imminent missile attack.

Chancellor Scholz and his colleagues deserve the thanks of the whole world for their contribution to the security of independent nations everywhere.

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The United Nations’ cultural agency decided yesterday to add the historic centre of Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa to its list of endangered World Heritage sites.

The decision was made at an extraordinary session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris.

Unesco director general Audrey Azoulay praised the move, saying the “legendary port that left its mark in cinema, literature and arts” is “now placed under the reinforced protection of the international community.”

Japan, as this year’s G7 chair, expects Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to dominate talks this year among the world’s major advanced economies, its top finance diplomat, Masato Kanda, told Reuters.

“Sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine will be a top priority at G7 finance track under Japan’s chair,” Mr Kanda, who will oversee deputy-level negotiations on economic policy among the Group of Seven (G7) nations this year, said in an interview.

Among other issues at the top of the G7 agenda would be global debt problems, he said.

While aggressive US interest rate increases last year weighed on emerging market dollar-denominated debt, middle-income countries have been left without an international arrangement to address the debt crisis.

“Japan is closely coordinating with international organs such as Paris club or IMF in order to ensure participating of non-Paris Club members such as China and India,” Mr Kanda said yesterday.

“It is desirable to work with these non-Paris Club countries in the same way with the Common Framework,” he said, referring to a Group of 20 mechanism designed to provide a swift and comprehensive debt overhaul to nations buckling under debt burdens after the Covid-19 shock.

“If this realised, it would pave the way for other middle-income countries to carry out with debt restructuring.”

Dozens of Nato’s modern battle tanks are to be sent to Ukraine to bolster the fight against Vladimir Putin’s invasion, ending weeks of diplomatic deadlock over the supply of armour to the country.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz approved the supply of the Leopard 2 to Kyiv, which would also allow other allies operating the tanks to re-export them.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak said it was the “right decision”, and the move would bolster Ukraine’s “defensive firepower”.

The US confirmed it will send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to the warzone.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged a senior UN official to help find a way to resolve what Ukrainian authorities decry as a serious consequence of 11 months of war – the deportation to Russia of thousands of adults and children.

Ukraine has for months denounced reports of mass deportations to Russia, often to remote regions thousands of kilometres from Ukraine. Russia denies any suggestion of mistreatment or criminal intent, describing the mass movements as evacuations.

“The discussion focused above all on our people that the occupiers have deported to Russia,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address, referring to talks with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi earlier yesterday.

President Joe Biden said Abrams tanks pose “no offensive threat” to Russia as he announced plans to supply them to Ukraine.

He said that they were needed to help the Ukrainians “improve their ability to manoeuvre in open terrain”, a decision that Russia denounced as an “extremely dangerous” step.

President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the commitment and urged allies to provide large quantities of tanks quickly.

“The key now is speed and volumes. Speed in training our forces, speed in supplying tanks to Ukraine. The numbers in tank support,” he said in a nightly video address yesterday. “We have to form such a ‘tank fist’, such a ‘fist of freedom’.”

Ukraine has been seeking hundreds of modern tanks to give its troops the firepower to break Russian defensive lines and reclaim occupied territory in the south and east. Ukraine and Russia have been relying primarily on Soviet-era T-72 tanks.

The promise of tanks comes as both Ukraine and Russia are expected to launch new offensives in the war and as fighting has intensified in Bakhmut in Ukraine’s east, officials said.