Poland to Buy $6 Billion in US Tanks, Assault Bridges, Explosives; Russian Advancing Force Grows to 190,000

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Friday that the U.S. will sell 250 M1A2 Abrams tanks to Poland to further build up defense capabilities along NATO’s eastern flank with Russia as U.S. officials continue to warn that an attack against Ukraine is imminent. 

Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces have exchanged intensified shelling over the last two days in Eastern Ukraine, which U.S. and NATO officials have said could be used as a pretext for a larger Russian attack. 

Austin announced the $6 billion contract during a stop in Warsaw to meet with Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak. Beyond the tanks, the contract includes the sale of 250 counter-IED systems, 26 M88 combat recovery vehicles, 17 joint assault bridges, 276 M2 .50-caliber machine guns, and thousands of rounds of explosive tracers.