Recently, a video is said to be “America, German heavy weapons have arrived Ukraine” has gone viral on major social media platforms like Twitter.
The video is made up of two short videos: The first shows a train full of tanks exiting the station and the second is filmed next to the track the train passes through. The cameraman said it in German which means “In Mannheim. Mannheim”. Eyewitnesses say that this is a tank shipped to Ukraine.
The video went viral on Twitter
What is the truth?
According to The Paper (China), judging from the word “Mannheim” mentioned in the video, it can basically be determined that the shooting location of the second video is in Mannheim, Germany.
If you search with keywords like “Mannheim Tank”, you can find an article titled German Railways is currently being used to transport military stockpile 2 supplies from Mannheim to Grafenwoehr posted on the US military network on March 14.
Related US tank shipping information.
According to information released by the US Army’s Office of Europe and Africa Affairs, the US Department of Defense stocks military equipment in various parts of the world for emergencies and these facilities are called “Army Preposition Stock”. There are a total of six US military reserves in Europe, including the facility in Mannheim. The Grafenwoehr training ground is located in southern Germany and is part of the largest US military base in Europe.
It is known that the consignment of vehicles and equipment includes M1A2 Abrams main battle tank, M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer and M2 Bradleys Infantry fighting vehicle. The article called the shipment “a joint US-Germany rail mission” and said the move “demonstrates the solidarity and cooperation between NATO allies and fulfills the US commitments to the allies.”
Importantly, this news is accompanied by photos of the tank. After comparing from different angles, it can be basically determined that the tank shown in the viral video is the same model as the tanks in the stockpile, they are all M1A2 vehicles of the US army.
The tank in the viral video (left) and the tank mentioned in the article of the US military site (right).
The news was released on March 14, 4 days earlier than when the video went viral on March 18. In addition, according to detailed information revealed in the article, the unit receiving troops this time is the German 405th Field Support Brigade.
Visit the official website of the 405th Field Support Brigade to verify, it can be seen that on March 18, at least some components and supplies from the above stockpile have been delivered. This time coincides with the time the video goes viral on the network.
The 405th Field Support Brigade reported on the US military shipment.
US-Germany tank aid to Ukraine?
Since Joe Biden took office as US President, the White House’s aid to Ukraine has amounted to $2 billion. The official White House website lists a specific list of weapons and equipment aided to Ukraine, including individual equipment such as bullets and bulletproof vests, as well as heavy weapons such as helicopters. and patrol boats, but not including tanks of any kind. This is enough to show that the tanks in the video are not US aid to Ukraine.
In addition, the Pentagon on March 22 (local time) announced that a shipment of equipment worth $ 800 million provided by the US to Ukraine has been shipped, but it has not yet arrived in Ukraine. If the video circulating on social media is true, these tanks have departed from Germany before the release of the video (March 18), and it is unlikely that they have not reached Ukraine by March 22. . This further rules out the possibility that the tanks appearing in the video are US aid to Ukraine.
As for Germany, the European power ended its historic policy of not sending weapons to conflict zones on February 26, when it announced the delivery of 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine. ; On March 3, Germany supported an additional 2,700 Needle anti-aircraft missiles.
But this also doesn’t prove the authenticity of the video – there are no tanks on the aid list, and the video’s release date (March 18) is far from the German aid announcement date (March 3). ).
NATO aid to Ukraine also does not include tanks. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview on March 16 that NATO will provide Ukraine with support such as weapons equipment, air defense systems, anti-tank weapons, etc., but will not sending troops to Ukraine, this is the unanimous position of the bloc.
Thus, the information “US and Germany aid tanks to Ukraine” is not accurate up to this point. The aid equipment that the US and Germany provided to Ukraine did not include tanks, so there is no evidence that the tanks in the video will be shipped to Ukraine.
On March 14, some military equipment, including the M1A2 tank, was transported from Mannheim to Grafenwall. Based on information from the parties, the armored vehicle in the video is most likely a stockpile of the US military in Mannheim.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: Soha.vn – Read the original article here
