Ukrainian soldiers have begun training on US Abrams tanks, the Pentagon says

The first group of about 400 Ukrainian soldiers has begun training in Germany to operate and maintain US M1 Abrams tanks, according to the Pentagon, another key step in the arming of Kiev as it tries to reclaim territory from Russia.

About 200 of the troops — about one armored battalion — began conducting what the military calls combined arms instruction on training ranges on Friday in Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels, GermanyLt. Col. Garron Garn, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.

That instruction includes basic soldier tasks such as marksmanship and medical skills, along with training at the platoon and company level, and eventually larger exercises where battalion-sized units go head-to-head.

The other 200 Ukrainian soldiers began training to refuel and maintain the tanks, Colonel Garn said.

Defense Ministry officials had previously said about 31 tanks would be sent to Germany to be used in a training program for Ukrainian troops expected to last 10 to 12 weeks. Battle-ready tanks could reach battlefields in Ukraine by the fall, officials have said.

Pentagon officials had expressed doubts about sending the Abrams, citing concerns about how Ukraine would maintain the advanced tanks, which require extensive training and maintenance. And officials had said it could be years before they actually reach the Ukrainian battlefields. But Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III eventually came to the conclusion that sending US tanks was necessary to urge Germany to follow with its coveted Leopard 2 tanks.

Initially, US defense officials had said that the M1 Abrams tanks would not arrive in Ukraine until next year. But since January, when the Biden administration reversed its longstanding resistance and announced it was sending the tanks, senior defense officials have said they wanted to speed up the timeline.

The start of tank instruction, led by the 7th Army Training Command, comes a week after President Biden told U.S. allies he would allow Ukrainian pilots to be trained on American-made F-16 fighter jets, a step toward eventually other countries to give their American-made planes to Ukraine.

Ukraine is preparing a major counter-offensive, hoping to recapture more territory occupied by Russia in the early days of the war. As with the fighter jets, the delivery of Abrams tanks and trained crews would be months away, too late to affect that plan.