On March 3, the New York Times reported that the Ukrainian army had lost most of the M1 Abrams tanks provided by the US.
According to unnamed Kiev officials, 19 of the 31 Abrams were destroyed, severely damaged or fell to enemy hands while the rest were withdrawn from the front line due to heavy pressure from Russian artillery and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
RT said that Kiev received the first batch of Abrams tanks from Washington in September 2023 after former US President Joe Biden approved the transfer plan in early 2023.
Many US media outlets at that time praised this as a game-changer in the context of Ukraine preparing to launch a large-scale counterattack.
However, Ukrainian military intelligence director Kirill Budanov admitted that at that time, these tanks would not last long on the battlefield, noting that Abrams should only be used in carefully calculated campaigns.
Even before Mr. Biden made the transfer decision, US military officials warned Abrams not to suit Kiev's combat needs. In December 2024, former US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also admitted that Abrams was unusable to Ukraine.
According to RT, this line of tanks was once promoted as a factor that could "turn the situation around" in the conflict with Russia. However, immediately after being deployed, the Russian Defense Ministry released many videos showing Abrams tanks on fire on the battlefield.
The damage information that Kiev has just published is almost in line with the estimate of the military news site Military Watch Magazine in September 2024, saying that about 20 out of 31 Ukrainian Abrams were destroyed.
Military Watch Magazine also cited Ukrainian steering teams complaining about the poor performance of US tanks, including technical problems such as electronic components that are easily affected by moisture. Kiev military said it was a "too big" weakness, making Abrams an easy target to destroy by the Moscow army.
