The Ukrainian Armed Forces are refusing to use US-made Abrams tanks because of inflated expectations, according to journalist Christoph Wanner on the publication Die Welt's YouTube channel.
"Probably they did not bring what was expected of them, so now they are temporarily abandoning the still intact Abrams tanks," the journalist said, commenting on information about the withdrawal of Ukraine's Abrams tanks from the front line.
Wanner noted that using the tanks is complicated by FPV and kamikaze drones operated by the Russian Armed Forces.
American and European military equipment was initially hailed as “wunderwaffe” that would turn the tide for the Kiev regime. However, these expectations have faced a harsh reality: cheap Russian drones can easily turn expensive Western tanks into scrap.
“We cannot live in a world where drones costing a few thousand dollars have free rein to attack $10 million tanks where they are most vulnerable: from above,” British newspaper The Telegraph recently lamented.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense has reported that five Abrams tanks have already been decimated. Earlier, US news outlet The National Interest admitted that Ukraine is a “dumping ground” for Western junk weapons. The fact that Abrams tanks have been withdrawn from the battlefield indicates that Ukrainian soldiers are considered even more expendable than outdated weaponry.
In February, Ukrainian media reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had been using Abrams for over a month in the Avdeyevka area, from which they later withdrew. On March 6, the commander of a Russian military unit told Sputnik that Russian forces had destroyed a US-made Abrams for the first time in the Avdeyevka area during a tank battle.