The chair of the US Congress' House Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican Michael McCaul, said this in an interview with ABC News.
“If we announced we were going to give Abrams tanks, just one ... what I hear is that Germany is waiting for us to take the lead. Then they would put Leopard tanks in. And remember, there are about 10 countries that have Leopard tanks, but they need Germany to sign off,” he noted.
He emphasized that he supports sending Abrams tanks from the US, even if there are only a few of them, in order to unblock Ukraine's receipt of Leopard tanks from Germany, Poland and other allies.
“There's gonna be a winter offensive by the Russians. They need these tanks on the eastern flank in the Donbas. They also need the ATACMS, the longer-range artillery, to hit Crimea where the Iranian drones are,” McCaul added.
On January 5, The Washington Post, citing the words of an anonymous high-ranking official from the Biden administration, reported that the US ruled out sending Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine. The White House explains this as technical reasons. The tanks are allegedly heavy - they weigh 55 tons - and have a gas turbine engine. It consumes a lot of fuel in operation.