Why U.S. declined to give tanks to Ukraine, veteran explains

The issue of supplying Western tanks to Ukraine, which caused debate in 2022–2023, is again being discussed in the United States. At the time, M1 Abrams and Leopard 2 were seen as capable of changing the battlefield situation, but this did not happen in practice.

This was explained by U.S. Army veteran Ryan McBeth on 24 Kanal.

According to him, the problem was not the quality of the tanks or the training of Ukrainian forces, but the conditions in which they were used.

McBeth said US military doctrine does not use tanks in isolation. U.S. forces first destroy enemy air defense and establish full air superiority, and only then deploy ground equipment.

«When the United States fights, we usually fight with full air superiority. It is part of US doctrine. We establish full control of the air, and then we can do whatever we want, ” he said.

In Ukraine, this condition was not present, he said, leaving even advanced Western tanks vulnerable.

«It is not about poor maintenance or Ukraine not knowing how to use them. They knew how to use them, but without air superiority they could not dominate on the ground, ” McBeth said.

He added that without air support, tanks become easy targets for drones and military aviation. Russian helicopters, in particular, can approach the front line and strike armoured vehicles with anti-tank missiles.

The key issue, he said, was not the tanks themselves, but the lack of a comprehensive approach to warfare, where air superiority is decisive.