The U.S. is withdrawing its Abrams main tanks from Ukrainian battlefields after the platforms proved unable to deal with the threat of Russian drones, according to two unnamed U.S. military officials who spoke with the Associated Press.
Five of the 31 American Abrams sent to Ukraine since January 2023 have already been lost to Russian action, the AP said. Their delivery came after months of intense lobbying on Kyiv's part, but the armored platforms—along with others supplied by NATO allies—failed to make the decisive battlefield impact that Ukraine had hoped for.
The Abrams—the unit cost of which is around $10 million each—have fallen victim to the mass use of drones over Ukrainian battlefields, with both sides employing surveillance and strike platforms in the attritional fighting that has come to characterize Russia's invasion.
Their constant presence in the air has made it difficult to amass and move high-value weapons systems like the Abrams close to the front.
"There isn't open ground that you can just drive across without fear of detection," a senior defense official told reporters Thursday, as quoted by the AP.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Admiral Christopher Grady and a third, unnamed source confirmed to the AP that the surviving tanks had been withdrawn from the front, with the Americans and Ukrainians now planning to review tactics for their use.
"When you think about the way the fight has evolved, massed armor in an environment where unmanned aerial systems are ubiquitous can be at risk," Grady said.
"Now, there is a way to do it," he added. "We'll work with our Ukrainian partners, and other partners on the ground, to help them think through how they might use that, in that kind of changed environment now, where everything is seen immediately."
Newsweek reached out to the Pentagon and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.
Russian propaganda has been giving prominence to videos and images of defeated Western tanks.
"There is nothing unusual in this tank in the way it is praised by the West and Ukraine," one soldier with the callsign Izai told the state-run Tass news agency. "It left a poor impression and I expected something more."
Moscow has repeatedly vowed to destroy the advanced Western weapons systems sent to Ukraine, claiming that aid from the U.S. and its allies will only prolong—not help win—Kyiv's existential defense war.
Last September, for example, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a press briefing, "There is no panacea, no single weapon that can change the balance of power on the battlefield."
As to Western weapons, he said: "They too will burn."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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David Brennan is Newsweek's Diplomatic Correspondent covering world politics and conflicts from London with a focus on NATO, the European ... Read more
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