According to reports from several US media, the USA now wants to deliver Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine.

This was reported by the "New York Times" on Tuesday evening (local time), citing insiders.

According to the newspaper, there could be official confirmation as early as this Wednesday.

It could be 30 to 50 tanks, the newspaper wrote.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that a US announcement of the commitment of "a larger number" of M1 Abrams could come later this week.

According to this, US President Joe Biden is said to have promised Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a telephone call last week to have such a delivery checked.

Neither the White House nor the Pentagon officially confirmed the reports on Tuesday.

Abrams delivery could take months

According to a report by the Reuters news agency, the US commitment could amount to around 30 Abrams tanks, according to an insider.

It is possible that the government in Washington will buy the tanks from allies with funds from the USAI (Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative) financing program, have them overhauled and then send them to Ukraine instead of taking them from US arsenals, said one with the matter familiar person.

However, this process could take months or even years.

Shortly before, it had become known from coalition circles that the federal government, after weeks of back and forth, would deliver German Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine and also want to allow the alliance partners to do the same.

The Chancellery has not yet commented on this.

Recently there had been reports that Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had made the delivery of the Abrams tanks a condition.

Berlin and Washington had rejected these reports.

The USA had previously emphasized that it did not consider the provision of the Abrams tank to be sensible for practical reasons.

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk praised the decision to supply tanks.

Even if it was delayed, it was "without a doubt a real breakthrough and a game changer for Ukraine on the battlefield," Melnyk told the German Press Agency.

"It will go down in history." The fact that Scholz apparently even helped convince the United States to deliver their M1 Abrams tanks is even "a tank double whammy," said Melnyk.

Now it is necessary for Germany to forge "a powerful tank alliance," said Melnyk.

"It's a race against time," emphasized the former ambassador in Berlin.

"Germany should throw away all the brakes and take a leading role in this Leo coalition so that our soldiers can be trained over the next few weeks and the hundreds of main battle tanks handed over to the Ukrainian armed forces by early spring."