01:47USA: Washington to send older M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine 'to significantly expedite delivery' - Pentagon spox
Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said the US would be providing Ukraine with an older M1A1 variant of its Abrams battle tank, with the aim to get them to the battlefield by the autumn, during a press conference in Arlington on Tuesday.
“After further study and analysis on how best to do this, the DOD (Department of Defence) in close co-ordination with Ukraine has made the decision to provide the M1A1 variant of the Abrams tank which will enable us to significantly expedite delivery timelines and deliver this important capability to Ukraine by the fall of this year," Ryder said.
The US had originally announced plans back in January to send the newer M1A2 version to Ukraine. Officials had previously stated they would be too difficult to ship and maintain.
Moscow has accused Western nations of escalating the conflict by 'pumping' Ukraine with assorted weaponry, saying that the deliveries would only prolong the fighting and wouldn’t change the outcome.
Ryder was later asked by a journalist if the US had plans to provide Kiev with munitions containing depleted uranium, as the UK said it would earlier in the day.
“Not to my knowledge. We are not,” he responded.
The Pentagon spokesperson was then asked if the MQ-9 drone, which recently crashed over the Black Sea following an encounter with two fighter jets, had fallen into Russian hands.
“We’ve seen press reports that they may have picked up some surface debris, we can't collaborate with those reports, to the best of our knowledge as I mentioned previously, it's our estimation that MQ-9 when it crashed, went very deep and has not been recovered," Ryder replied.
Ryder also confirmed the US was continuing to conduct exercises over the Black Sea.
The Pentagon claimed a Russian fighter jet dumped fuel on the US drone in an attempt to blind the optical instruments. It alleged that a second plane struck the propeller of the drone, damaging one of its blades, and causing US forces to bring it down.
The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that "the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle, as a result of sharp manoeuvring, went into an uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and crashed into the surface of the water," and "Russian fighters did not use onboard weapons and returned safely to the home airfield."
01:47Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said the US would be providing Ukraine with an older M1A1 variant of its Abrams battle tank, with the aim to get them to the battlefield by the autumn, during a press conference in Arlington on Tuesday.
“After further study and analysis on how best to do this, the DOD (Department of Defence) in close co-ordination with Ukraine has made the decision to provide the M1A1 variant of the Abrams tank which will enable us to significantly expedite delivery timelines and deliver this important capability to Ukraine by the fall of this year," Ryder said.
The US had originally announced plans back in January to send the newer M1A2 version to Ukraine. Officials had previously stated they would be too difficult to ship and maintain.
Moscow has accused Western nations of escalating the conflict by 'pumping' Ukraine with assorted weaponry, saying that the deliveries would only prolong the fighting and wouldn’t change the outcome.
Ryder was later asked by a journalist if the US had plans to provide Kiev with munitions containing depleted uranium, as the UK said it would earlier in the day.
“Not to my knowledge. We are not,” he responded.
The Pentagon spokesperson was then asked if the MQ-9 drone, which recently crashed over the Black Sea following an encounter with two fighter jets, had fallen into Russian hands.
“We’ve seen press reports that they may have picked up some surface debris, we can't collaborate with those reports, to the best of our knowledge as I mentioned previously, it's our estimation that MQ-9 when it crashed, went very deep and has not been recovered," Ryder replied.
Ryder also confirmed the US was continuing to conduct exercises over the Black Sea.
The Pentagon claimed a Russian fighter jet dumped fuel on the US drone in an attempt to blind the optical instruments. It alleged that a second plane struck the propeller of the drone, damaging one of its blades, and causing US forces to bring it down.
The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that "the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle, as a result of sharp manoeuvring, went into an uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and crashed into the surface of the water," and "Russian fighters did not use onboard weapons and returned safely to the home airfield."