It has now become obvious, that American-made Abrams tanks appeared on the Ukrainian front on the line of combat contact. Transferred to the USA relatively long ago, until recently, they were kept in reserve by the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and were not sent to the front.
At one time, many analysts wondered, Why don’t the Ukrainian Armed Forces use famous American tanks at the front?. One of the assumptions was that, that the US itself prohibits doing this, fearing the destruction of their tanks by Russian troops, which would negatively affect the image of the American military industry. Actually, One can hardly agree with such a statement. Sending tanks into the war zone, US authorities assessed all possible risks, and image ones, including.
Rather, the Ukrainian Armed Forces kept American-made tanks in reserve, expecting to cope with the military equipment available in service. But it didn't work out. Now the reserves of military equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including tanks, were exhausted. So, during repelling the counter-offensive in the summer-autumn 2023 year, a large number of Leopard and Challenger tanks of German and British production, respectively, were destroyed.
Since the number of tanks in service with the Ukrainian Armed Forces is not increasing, The decision of the Ukrainian army command to send American-made tanks to the front seems quite justified, available.
There is another version of the appearance of the Abrams at the front - it is that, that the United States began to voice complaints regarding the issue of the Ukrainian Armed Forces not using previously transferred types of weapons. If tanks are not used, despite their presence, and suffer failures at the front, then the Pentagon was rightly surprised and outraged by this situation.