A group of Ukrainian soldiers have completed training to operate US-supplied tanks, some of which are set to arrive in the country by mid-September.

Officials hope that the M1 Abrams battle tanks will help Ukraine achieve a breakthrough in their counteroffensive.

Looking at the latest, military analyst Sean Bell has said that the tanks are "arguably one of the most capable tanks in the world" and "fairly reliable."

Ukraine war latest: https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-russia-war-latest-counteroffensive-live-updates-12541713

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The Abrams tanks really form 1 of the top trumps of global tanks, incredibly capable, they've been around since 1980.

But they've got a turbine engine rather than a normal diesel engine, which is very, very thirsty of fuel, but it does mean it's very reliable.

62 tonnes, travels up to almost 50 miles an hour, $4 million a pop.

We were talking about tanks earlier in the year.

Part of that was because when there was the initial conversation about tanks for Ukraine, America did not want to paint this as an America versus Russia campaign.

The Brits stepped forward and said we will provide Challenger 2.

The Germans agreed that Leopard 2 could be deployed.

And of course, that ended up to about 300 tanks that were eventually agreed.

At that stage, America said, right, we will deploy 31 of these Abrams tanks.

They've put some of them forward to Germany so that Ukrainians could do some training on American training ranges in Germany.

And we've just heard that 200 of those Ukrainians have now completed that training.

And therefore, we're waiting for the first batch of these tanks.

Apparently, it should be 10 of these tanks should arrive in Ukraine by the middle of September and we expect the rest of the 31 to arrive by the end of the year.

We've talked haven't we about the counter-offensive hasn't gone as well as hoped from the Ukrainian side.

Are these tanks going to have any effects?

Well, the first question is when they're going to actually be deployed.

It's 1 thing to put them into Ukraine, but there'll only be 10 there by the middle of September.

Prevailing view is that the Ukrainians probably will wait till all 31 are there before they actually use them in anger.

And it's also worth noting that, of course, when they were pledged, they fully expected that these wouldn't be involved at all this year Because the spring offensive would have already been considerably underway And this would be too late as it was spring offensive delayed Then it's been going 12 weeks and funny old thing there the war is still ongoing and therefore these could play a key role.

Where they'll play the most role is when they're breaking through that the Russian defenses because they'll be able to lead the rush to the coast and that's where to cut off the land bridge that's where these tanks could be invaluable.

They will be wrapped in a bit of controversy though because the Americans are providing depleted uranium rounds for which are armor-piercing which are very effective.

Now inevitably the Brits have also provided those rounds but America does this on the back of providing cluster weapons to Ukraine so I suspect there'll be a few headlines to follow.

As we speak, Sean, what's happening on the front line?

Well, we're 12 weeks into this offensive at the moment.

There's intense fighting across the front line, but the front lines look fairly static, So it's quite difficult to tell objectively what's happening.

But there are 2 things I would bring attention to, 1 of which is that there is increasing evidence that Ukraine is making progress around Robutyne, trying to get through those Russian.

And that's backed up by the fact that up in Kupyansk, which is where the Russians have been pushing, the Ministry of Defence reports that actually some of the Russians are now redeploying troops from Kupyansk down towards Robusyn.

And they would only be doing that if there was a real threat that Ukraine was about to do some sort of breakthrough.

The other thing I draw attention to is artillery.

Artillery generally causes the most casualties in any war.

The West has provided counter battery radar to Ukraine.

What that means effectively is every time Russia artillery fire towards them, they are able to grid reference that point and fire a very accurate shell back at the Russians.

Now it appears that's been very effective and there are now parts of the front line where Russia doesn't have any of that counter-battery capability and that means they're under a complete barrage of Ukrainian artillery fire.

Now there hasn't been a breakthrough yet but there's pretty compelling evidence now that Ukrainian pressure is building on an increasingly fragile Russian front line.


Speaker 0: The Abrams tanks really form 1 of the top trumps of global tanks, incredibly capable, they've been around since 1980. But they've got a turbine engine rather than a normal diesel engine, which is very, very thirsty of fuel, but it does mean it's very reliable. 62 tonnes, travels up to almost 50 miles an hour, $4 million a pop. But Why are they late to the party? We were talking about tanks earlier in the year.

Part of that was because when there was the initial conversation about tanks for Ukraine, America did not want to paint this as an America versus Russia campaign. The Brits stepped forward and said we will provide Challenger 2. Then there was pressure brought to bear. The Germans agreed that Leopard 2 could be deployed. And of course, that ended up to about 300 tanks that were eventually agreed.

At that stage, America said, right, we will deploy 31 of these Abrams tanks. They've put some of them forward to Germany so that Ukrainians could do some training on American training ranges in Germany. And we've just heard that 200 of those Ukrainians have now completed that training. And therefore, we're waiting for the first batch of these tanks. Apparently, it should be 10 of these tanks should arrive in Ukraine by the middle of September and we expect the rest of the 31 to arrive by the end of the year.

Oh I

Speaker 1: see, right. We've talked haven't we about the counter-offensive hasn't gone as well as hoped from the Ukrainian side. Are these tanks going to have any effects?

Speaker 0: Well, the first question is when they're going to actually be deployed. It's 1 thing to put them into Ukraine, but there'll only be 10 there by the middle of September. Prevailing view is that the Ukrainians probably will wait till all 31 are there before they actually use them in anger. And it's also worth noting that, of course, when they were pledged, they fully expected that these wouldn't be involved at all this year Because the spring offensive would have already been considerably underway And this would be too late as it was spring offensive delayed Then it's been going 12 weeks and funny old thing there the war is still ongoing and therefore these could play a key role. Where they'll play the most role is when they're breaking through that the Russian defenses because they'll be able to lead the rush to the coast and that's where to cut off the land bridge that's where these tanks could be invaluable.

They will be wrapped in a bit of controversy though because the Americans are providing depleted uranium rounds for which are armor-piercing which are very effective. Now inevitably the Brits have also provided those rounds but America does this on the back of providing cluster weapons to Ukraine so I suspect there'll be a few headlines to follow.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I bet they will. As we speak, Sean, what's happening on the front line?

Speaker 0: Well, we're 12 weeks into this offensive at the moment. There's intense fighting across the front line, but the front lines look fairly static, So it's quite difficult to tell objectively what's happening. But there are 2 things I would bring attention to, 1 of which is that there is increasing evidence that Ukraine is making progress around Robutyne, trying to get through those Russian. And that's backed up by the fact that up in Kupyansk, which is where the Russians have been pushing, the Ministry of Defence reports that actually some of the Russians are now redeploying troops from Kupyansk down towards Robusyn. And they would only be doing that if there was a real threat that Ukraine was about to do some sort of breakthrough.

The other thing I draw attention to is artillery. Artillery generally causes the most casualties in any war. The West has provided counter battery radar to Ukraine. What that means effectively is every time Russia artillery fire towards them, they are able to grid reference that point and fire a very accurate shell back at the Russians. Now it appears that's been very effective and there are now parts of the front line where Russia doesn't have any of that counter-battery capability and that means they're under a complete barrage of Ukrainian artillery fire.

Now there hasn't been a breakthrough yet but there's pretty compelling evidence now that Ukrainian pressure is building on an increasingly fragile Russian front line.

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Ukraine War: M1 Abrams battle tanks to prove 'vital' if Kyiv makes breakthrough