US to help NATO countries send Soviet-era tanks to the Ukraine front

The Soviet-era T-72s, which the Ukrainian military has experience operating, will be delivered ‘within days’ by NATO countries.

A Ukrainian soldier stands atop a captured Russian T-72 tank. Picture: Reuters

The US is expected to help in the transfer of Soviet-era tanks from NATO allies to Ukraine, according to senior American officials.

The tanks will be Soviet-era T-72s, which the Ukrainian military has experience operating and will be delivered “within days, not weeks,” CNN reported on Sunday.

Washington last month vetoed a plan by Poland to donate to Kyiv its entire fleet of Soviet-era MiG-29 jet fighters, which Ukrainian airmen are similarly ­experienced in operating.

The US and NATO have ­rejected repeated requests by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to establish a no-fly zone over his embattled nation, which US Joe President fears could trigger a larger war.

Washington points out that Russia has failed to establish air superiority over Ukraine.

It also argues it has helped ­establish a no-fly zone by the transfer of Soviet-era missile defence systems, which the US bought from former Eastern Bloc countries as part of a $US100m clandestine program after the fall of the Berlin War.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that they included the SA-8, a short-range, tactical air ­defence system designed to move with ground forces and provide cover from aircraft and helicopters.