Wahington._The Biden administration is moving closer to sending M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, US officials said Tuesday, in what would be an important step to arm kyiv in its efforts to retake its territory from Russia.
President Biden has yet to make a final decision, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions. But if he agrees to send the advanced Abrams tanks, the move will likely prompt Germany to stick with its own Leopard 2 tanks, the officials said.
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The move to send the Abrams tanks, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes after a testy confrontation last week during a meeting of NATO defense chiefs over German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s refusal to send in the Leopards, which many military experts believe could be a decisive weapon in Ukrainian hands. German officials insisted they would only send the tanks, which are among the most advanced in the world, if the United States agreed to send its own M1 Abrams tanks.
