Pripyat, Ukraine
CNN
—
A few kilometers from the Belarusian border, Ukrainian forces are training for what is expected to be a brutal spring.
An aging T-72 tank (about twice the crew’s age) fires shells in the fog while ground forces train to raid an abandoned building. Part of the training will take place in the eerily quiet town of Pripyat, which has been deserted since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
With the troops in step, Lieutenant General Serhiy Nayev receives a delivery of 12 pickup trucks armed with heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft guns. He caused a lot of damage to Ukraine’s power infrastructure.
But Naiev, a stocky and amiable commander, believes the next phase of this war will be about tanks. And that means more modern machines such as the German Leopard 2 or the British Challengers, not his old T-72. Ukrainian officials say they need hundreds of main battle tanks not only to defend their current positions, but also to fight the enemy in the coming months.
“Of course, we need a lot of Western tanks. They are much better than the Soviet models and can help us advance. “We are creating new military units. Our next move will depend on their readiness for combat, so Western support is very important.”
The most important of their requests is Leopard 2. The Leopard 2 is relatively easy to maintain and operate and is used by many NATO countries. Both Ukrainian military and political leaders hoped Friday’s Ramstein meeting of Ukrainian partners would give the green light to their extradition, but Germany held back.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said after the meeting that he and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had “frankly discussed the Leopard 2 … will continue.”
Mikhaylo Podlyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president’s office, told CNN on Friday: I understand that some countries have prohibitions. However, the longer this goes on, the more our soldiers and civilians will be killed.
“If Germany takes the lead here, it will be important.”
“Indeed, 300 to 400 of these tanks would outweigh the 2,000 to 3,000 tanks of the Soviet era…that would sharply accelerate the tempo of the war and start the final phase.” claim.
![The Soviet-era T-72s seen during exercises near Pripyat on Friday are numerous, but no match for more modern tanks.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230121142652-01-ukraine-military-trained-western-weapons.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_270,w_480,c_fill)
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials say spare parts for existing Soviet-era tanks are in short supply.
Ukrainians fear a second Russian offensive could begin within two months. By this spring, his 150,000 Russians conscripted last fall will have been trained and likely incorporated into combat-ready units. For Ukrainians it is a race against time. But they’re essentially transforming a Soviet hardware-based army into one that uses advanced Western weaponry at warp speed.
They don’t get the powerful but hard to maintain M1 Abrams MBT. The Pentagon’s chief policy adviser, Colin Carr, said of the M1, “It’s expensive. It’s hard to train. It’s jet-powered.”
Experts also believe that German tanks could make a big difference. “The Leopard 2 is a modern, well-protected main battle tank with excellent sensors,” Jack Watling, his fellow at the Royal Union Institute of Military Affairs (RUSI), senior researcher in land warfare, told CNN. told to
“Originally designed to be maintained by conscripts, it is easier to engage in combat than other NATO designs such as the Challenger 2. We also have an existing production line.”
![A Polish leopard standing in a forest area during an international military exercise 2](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230113125727-02-leopard-2-tank-file.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_270,w_480,c_fill)
![Defense officials are pictured at the Ukrainian Defense Liaison Group at Ramstein Air Base on January 20, 2023.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230121115626-boris-pistorius-oleksii-reznikov.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_270,w_480,c_fill)
However, other weapons continue to flow in, including Stryker armored vehicles and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles from the United States, howitzers from Finland, and advanced Archer artillery systems and anti-tank guns from Sweden.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces will have to train troops with new equipment and integrate it into existing formations.
“The whole battalion has to be equipped with Bradley, or Leopard, because the whole unit has to be equipped with the same vehicle,” Nayef told CNN.
Some senior Ukrainian officials said Ukraine wants to be at the forefront before Russia strengthens its front and battalion tactical groups. Since Ukrainian forces entered Kharkov and Kherson in the fall, the front line from the Russian border in the northeast to the Black Sea has barely moved.
Podoljak said the rapid delivery of modern tanks would localize the war.
Ukraine needs tanks to quickly clear occupied territories, but it also needs long-range missiles, Podlyak said. He expects the Russians to “bring in more troops, a lot of old Soviet equipment and, by our estimation, everything they left behind.”
By positioning it far from the front lines, beyond the range of the U.S. HIMARS system that Ukraine is using effectively against such targets, Russia will reduce its ammunition stockpiles and concentration of troops. It appears to be an attempt to reduce vulnerability.
As the list of hardware Ukrainians want continues to grow, Podoljak responds: They just die more often and more regularly.
“I understand that some countries are tired of this war,” Podoljak told CNN.
“But it is we who pay the real price for freedom. We are the people whose people are dying because of Russian aggression.”