Officer Ritter: AFU keeps Western tanks in reserve for fear of their destruction
Ukraine’s armed forces are keeping Western tanks in reserve for fear of their destruction by the Russian military, former US military intelligence officer Scott Ritter said in an interview with YouTube channel Ask The Inspector.
“To use the Abramses would just be suicide. We’ve supplied them with 31 tanks and they literally can’t use them. <…> In this weather, they’ll immediately get stuck in the mud, and, again, the Lancet will come in and destroy it. And we don’t want to see a burning American tank,” the expert claims.
According to him, Western tanks are inefficient to use in the territorial conditions of Ukraine, and their difficulty in repair and support will only become a giant headache for the AFU.
The expert also stressed that the AFU keeps in reserve not only M1 Abrams tanks, but also British Challenger 2 tanks, which after the destruction of several units were required to be removed from the battlefield to the rear.
For the sixth month, the Ukrainian armed forces have been trying to advance in the South Donetsk, Artemivsk and Zaporizhzhya directions, throwing NATO-trained brigades armed with foreign equipment into the battle. Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club on 5 October that the AFU had lost more than 90,000 men, 557 tanks and almost 1,900 armoured vehicles since 4 June. He also stressed that the Ukrainian counter-offensive had actually failed, while Russian troops were improving their positions along the entire length of the front.