After a drawn-out back and forth between Ukraine, the U.S. and European NATO countries, the first deliveries of Western-made tanks for the Ukrainian military have been announced. A meeting last week at the U.S. airbase in Ramstein had yielded no result, as Germany did not want to sign off on deliveries of German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks from any country, while the U.S. was reluctant to make its own model, the M1 Abrams, available due to concerns they were to hard to maintain given existing Ukrainian logistics operations. After the Russian invasion in early 2022, the country had previously received older model Soviet-made tanks from European allies.

According to CNN, Germany reportedly did not want to take the step of delivering the tanks without their U.S. partners also doing so despite the UK having pledged 11 Challenger 2 tanks previously. Since then, the U.S. has announced to deliver one battalion, or 31 Abrams tanks. Germany has said it will part with 14. Poland, the most outspoken about wishing to deliver its Leopard 2s, will reportedly also sent 14, while 18 will come out of the Netherlands. More deliveries are expected from Norway, Finland and Spain, while Portugal is also in the process of officially signing off on the matter.