Australia completes delivery of 49 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. Last vehicles arrived few days ago

The Australian Armed Forces have completed the delivery of 49 M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. Some of the vehicles were delivered in the summer, and the last units were delivered to the Ukrainian army the day before.

This is said in a press release on the website of the Australian Ministry of Defense.

"The donation of equipment worth about USD 245 million is in response to a direct request from Kyiv and is part of Australia's total assistance of more than USD 1.7 billion since the start of the war," the department said.

The first batch of tanks arrived in Ukraine in July this year. Many of them are already in service with units participating in the fighting.

The last batch of Abrams tanks prepared for combat missions has recently arrived in Ukraine

The tanks were delivered as part of Operation Kudu-Europe. Its commander, Colonel James Smith, said that it was the largest logistics operation of the Australian army.

"It's a huge undertaking to move a 60-ton tank halfway around the world and ensure it's ready to go when we hand it over to our Ukrainian friends," the ministry quoted the colonel as saying.

The Australian Defense Ministry emphasized that security and intelligence considerations were taken into account in all aspects of the planning of the operation so as not to jeopardize the successful delivery of the tanks.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in May this year, the ABC reported how Australia started the process of transferring M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine

Also, in June of this year, Military Watch Magazine published a story stating that the Ukrainian army has lost 87% of the Abrams tanks previously supplied by the United States of America.