MELBOURNE, Australia, 17 Oct (AP) \u2014 Australia will give 49 of its aging M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine months after Kyiv requested the redundant fleet, Defense Minister Richard Marles said Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Australian government was giving Ukraine most of its American-made M1A1 tanks, which are valued at 245 million Australian dollars ($163 million), Marles said. They will be replaced in Australia by a fleet of 75 next-generation M1A2 tanks.<\/p>\n
In February, Marles said that giving Ukraine the tanks as they were phased out was not on his government\u2019s agenda. But on Thursday he said he did not regard the donation as a backflip on his government\u2019s previous position.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk with the Ukrainian government consistently around how best we can support them,\u201d Marles told Australian Broadcasting Corp.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look at the material that we have; its effectiveness, … the shape that it\u2019s in, to be frank, whether it would be able to make a difference, whether it can be sustained and maintained so that it can be kept in the fight. And the Abrams tanks fit all of those criteria,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The United States provided the necessary permission for Australia to transfer the tanks to Ukraine as required under U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations, Defense Industry and Capability Delivery Minister Pat Conroy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working very closely with our U.S. allies on the donation of these tanks,\u201d Conroy said.<\/p>\n
The United States agreed to send 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine in January 2023 after an aggressive monthslong campaign by Kyiv arguing that the tanks were vital to its ability to breach Russian lines.<\/p>\n
Conroy said Australia placed no specific conditions on how Ukraine used the tanks or on whether they crossed the Russian border.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur long-standing principle is as long as they are used according to the international rules of law, there are no other conditions,\u201d Conroy said.<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s Ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, would not be drawn on opposition lawmakers\u2019 criticisms that the tanks should have been donated earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a very timely, a very substantial and very fit-for-purpose announcement,\u201d Myroshnychenko said. \u201cWe respect the decision of the government. It was not an easy one and I\u2019m very happy that it was a positive one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tanks bring the total value of Australia\u2019s military assistance to Ukraine since Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion to over AU$1.3 billion ($866 million).<\/p>\n
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MELBOURNE, Australia, 17 Oct (AP) \u2014 Australia will give 49 of its aging M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine months after Kyiv requested the redundant fleet, Defense Minister Richard Marles said Thursday. The Australian government was giving Ukraine most of its American-made M1A1 tanks, which are valued at 245 million Australian dollars ($163 million), Marles said. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-250598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250598\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}