On April 26, the American "Stars and Stripes" website confirmed: Ukraine has withdrawn the M1 Abrams main battle tank provided by the United States from the front line of the battle with the Russian army, partly because of the frequent attacks and harassment of Russian drones, which have made it impossible to carry out combat missions without being detected and attacked. Since February 26, 2024, when the Russian army destroyed the first M1 Abrams tank with a drone near Avdiivka, Ukraine has lost 5 of its 31 M1s. And this news was also confirmed by the US Department of Defense. So, why did the United States and Ukraine choose to withdraw the M1 main battle tank from the front line before the Russian army was about to launch a large-scale attack?
In January 2023, the United States finally agreed to deliver 31 M1 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine after months of begging for it, and at that time both the United States and Ukraine believed that the arrival of the M1 and other European main battle tanks would help the Ukrainian army break the Russian army's defense line in a major counteroffensive. Unexpectedly, in the so-called counteroffensive of the Ukrainian army last summer, a large number of main battle tanks, including the Leopard 2, which were aided by the West, were destroyed under the attack of Russian helicopter gunships, drones, artillery and anti-tank missiles. But fortunately, the M1 entered the front line late for various reasons, and when the Ukrainian army deliberately retained its use, it was not until February this year that it was first discovered by the Russian army's suicide drone and carried out the "first kill"!
But since then, although the Ukrainian army has become more and more careful with the use of M1, there has even been a situation where a Russian drone team has to painstakingly track an M1 for 3 days in order to kill it. But this did not prevent the Russian army from killing 5 M1s one after another in less than 3 months, and severely damaged the other 3, so that the M1 combat strength of the Ukrainian army was lost by about 26% at once! At the same time, a total of 30 German Leopards (Leopard 2 accounted for 29) and 1 British Challenger 2 main battle tank were also destroyed by the Russian army.
And after as many as 8 M1s were completely destroyed or heavily damaged, videos and pictures of the Russian army seizing an M1150 minesweeper provided by the United States to the Ukrainian army have been circulating on the Internet recently. The M1150 minesweeper is a special vehicle modified from the chassis of the M1 tank, which can help the Ukrainian army quickly clear a safe passage in a minefield. Although this is not an M1 main battle tank, the outside world still pays great attention to its capture by the Russian army, because the internal armor structure can be clearly seen from the damage to the turret of the vehicle. Therefore, many military enthusiasts believe that this may allow the Russian army to figure out the weaknesses of the turret armor of the M1 main battle tank.
However, American military experts do not believe that the capture of the M1150 minesweeper by the Russian army will cause the leakage of US military secrets. Because the M1150 only uses the chassis of the M1, it is different from the M1 from the inside out. In particular, its turret and armor are far from the performance of the M1 used by the US military, not only does it not have depleted uranium armor, but there is no gunner position inside due to the need for mine clearance, so there is no fire control computer and supporting software, let alone artillery shells and combat command system. So after this minesweeper was captured, the Russian army could only get the performance and minesweeping efficiency of the US minesweeper at best. Therefore, the adverse consequences of the capture of the M1150 are only a huge loss of the Ukrainian army's mine-sweeping capabilities, and almost no impact on the US military.
To sum up, we can also see why the Ukrainian army is withdrawing the M1 main battle tank. Although all parties expect the Russian army to launch a large-scale offensive against Ukraine in June, the withdrawal of the Ukrainian army from M1 at this time may be precisely to prepare for this tough battle. You must know that the total number of advanced main battle tanks assisted by the West is not much, but the Ukrainian army has lost seventy-seven, eighty-eight so far. Therefore, it is necessary for the Ukrainian army to withdraw these advanced Western main battle tanks to the rear, make tactical adjustments and strengthen the training of member groups, so as to find a way to deal with the Russian army's attack methods, so that it can play a better role in the upcoming big war.
Therefore, although the Ukrainian army has now only publicly withdrawn the American M1 Abrams, it may also "recall" the Leopard 2 and Challenger 2. After all, in the reasons for the recall of the M1 by the Ukrainian army and the United States, it has been clearly stated that it is because it is unable to cope with the attack of Russian drones and cruise missiles, and these troubles that the M1 cannot cope with cannot be solved by other European tanks, so there is a high probability that they will be withdrawn for repair together. This also highlights the reversal of the situation between Russia and Ukraine in terms of operations such as drones and cruise missiles. In the past, the Ukrainian army used suicide drones to destroy a large number of Russian tanks and armored vehicles, which once greatly restricted the movement of the Russian armored forces;
In addition to the reason why the Russian army gradually began to "explode" in the manufacture of drones and cruise missiles, the Russian army has been equipped with a large number of electronic warfare equipment on the front line, which can effectively suppress and interfere with the Ukrainian army's drones, making it impossible to approach the Russian army at all. And in this way, the armored forces of the Ukrainian army have fallen into a vicious circle of "their own attack methods are ineffective, and they cannot defend against enemy strikes", resulting in a large number of tanks and armored vehicles being destroyed one by one by Russian cruise missiles and cheaper suicide drones - and even Western tanks, which claim to be more advanced than the Russian army, are not spared under this wave of attacks by the Russian army!
Therefore, in the face of the large-scale offensive that the Russian army is about to launch in the summer, it may be the "simple idea" of the command of the Ukrainian army to preserve this vital force in hand to the greatest extent. Although a large amount of military aid from the United States and Europe is arriving one after another, everyone knows in their hearts that the reason why the United States is so "bleeding" is only to hope that Ukraine can hold out until the end of the US election in November, so as not to affect Biden's election after its collapse before that.
After all, the slogan "fight to the last Ukrainian", the United States doesn't just talk about it - the money is given, don't you give up your life?