The United States will send between 30 to 50 of its high-level battle tanks, M1 Abrams, to Ukraine to further arm Ukrainian troops to retake its cities under Russian control, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. 

Pentagon officials had previously exercised restraint in sending the military hardware to Ukraine, citing the high-level maintenance, servicing and training it requires. 

The delivery of the tanks will also take years to arrive at any significant war front in Ukraine. 

According to reports, the decision to send the tanks was taken to force Germany to release its highly sought-after war tank, the Leopard 2, which its chancellor, Olaf Scholz, had previously refused to deliver to Ukraine. 

Mr Scholz had made arming Ukrainian forces with the U.S. M1 Abrams a precondition to releasing his country’s advanced military hardware. 

It is not immediately clear whether the weapons’ release will significantly change the course on the battle fronts as Russia continues to control several Ukrainian cities.

However, Ukraine and its Western allies are strengthening efforts to maintain resistance against what Russia’s President Vladimir Putin continues to call a “special military operation.”