A former top NATO commander said that the tanks in Ukraine will create “real problems” for Russian President Vladimir Putin as the European war nears the one-year mark.
During an interview on WABC on Sunday, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis said that the decision by some Western nations to send tanks to Ukraine will pose problems for Putin.
“When you put these three types of tanks together and you bring them in real numbers into Ukraine, and I would estimate there will be at least 100, maybe as many as 200 by mid-spring, call it the end of March, that creates real problems for Putin,” Stavridis told host John Catsimatidis.
Stavridis, a former admiral, said that Putin’s military forces are stretched out along a front that runs hundreds of miles from Russia, through eastern Ukraine, where some of the heaviest fighting is taking place, to Crimea in the Black Sea.
“With these tanks, the Ukrainians can mask that armor, and use it to punch through the Russian line and separate them, peel them apart, break their logistics chain, and really reduce the ability of Russia to continue what it wants to do, which is to ramp up offensive operations,” he said.
He added that the tanks mark a “pivotal moment” in the war that Russia launched against its neighbor last February.
“It’s also a bad day in the Kremlin because he sees the unity of the West. … All of the nations of NATO have pulled together,” Stavridis said. “It’s a strong, political and diplomatic signal. … And it’s a very important military step for the alliance.”
President Joe Biden announced last week that the U.S. would be sending 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
“The Abrams tanks are the most capable tanks in the world,” Biden said in remarks from the White House. “These tanks are further evidence of our enduring and unflagging commitment to Ukraine and our confidence in the skill of Ukrainian forces.”
The decision comes after months of deliberations during which Ukraine begged for tanks in anticipation of a springtime Russian onslaught. In the Donbas region, where Moscow has seized territory, Kyiv is expected to fight across the flat plains with the aid of its highly maneuverable tanks.
