The United States will fund the refurbishment of T-72 tanks and HAWK surface-to-air missiles as part of a roughly $400 million security assistance package for Ukraine, the Pentagon announced. Air defense and armor capabilities are both high on the list of assistance desired by Ukraine, but the T-72s fall short of the most modern tanks such as German Leopards or US Abrams that have been sought by Kyiv.The tanks are coming from the Czech Republic defense industry, and the United States is paying for 45 of those to be refurbished, and the government of the Netherlands is matching our commitment for a total of 90 T-72s, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said. These are tanks that the Ukrainians know how to use on the battlefield, she said, adding that introducing a new main battle tank is extremely costly, is time sensitive, and it would be a huge undertaking for the Ukrainian forces.
The assistance package also funds the refurbishment of HAWK missiles from US inventories — an important asset as Ukraine seeks to counter Russian drone and missile strikes targeting its cities and energy infrastructure. Spain previously agreed to provide four of the medium-range HAWK air defense systems to Ukraine — part of international efforts to assemble a patchwork of various surface-to-air capabilities to help the country defend against strikes.