Images leaked on social media indicate that Ukrainian forces may already be operating the M1 Abrams main battle tanks that the White House previously promised to provide Kiev. The news comes weeks after images of charred wrecks of German Leopard 2 tanks made headlines.
While these Abrams tanks are yet to be seen in action on the battlefields, Kiev may have a reason to keep this armor out of harm’s way, argued Sergey Suvorov, a retired colonel of the Russian army and tank expert.
“I think they are keeping these tanks in reserve to avoid more reports about NATO hardware burning,” Suvorov suggested. “Well, they (Abrams tanks) will burn anyway. These Abrams tanks were burning in Iraq and in other places where they got deployed.”
He also dismissed claims that the Abrams tank’s engine cannot handle the subzero temperatures in the Ukrainian conflict zone during winter.
Whereas a diesel engine often takes up to 30 minutes to “heat up” in order to start in cold weather conditions, a gas turbine engine like the one M1 Abrams or the Russian T-80 tanks have can start “within 50 seconds in any freezing weather,” said Suvorov.
Earlier this year, the Biden administration promised to deliver some 31 M1 Abrams tanks to the Kiev regime, with Ukrainian officials announcing the arrival of the first batch of these tanks in September.
This year’s counteroffensive by the Kiev regime forces, which started with much fanfare in June, quietly faded into obscurity a few months later. It has highlighted the uncanny ability of Ukrainian troops to suffer costly defeats regardless of how much NATO tanks and armored vehicles they have at their disposal.