Ukrainians in North Texas hope Biden approves sending Abrams tanks

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) “A large American military force is being sent to Ukraine. President Biden today announced that the leaders of the United States and other European countries have agreed to send some of the most advanced tank systems in the world to help Ukrainian soldiers who continue to fight hard to push Russia from their borders.

Experts say it’s the right time, and for the right reason.

“They all keep asking me, ‘What is Biden saying? What does Biden say?” Olena Kim from Southlake shares.

Kim was born in Ukraine but has spent the last 20 years in North Texas and still has family there. “Biden gives hope, great hope to the Ukrainian people…”

And Kim hopes the extra firepower will help liberate her homeland and protect her son, born in Ukraine but raised in North Texas, who is now a soldier fighting in the war.

President Biden said 31 M-1 Abrams aircraft would eventually be sent to Ukraine.

“This help has saved a lot of lives,” says Kim, “a lot of lives. I worried too much… worried too much. Now I know they are not alone…[they] get support.”

And experts say the support sends a message to the people of Ukraine and the rest of the world.

“If we are there with Ukraine and help Ukraine, then President Xi in China might think twice before launching any kind of campaign against Taiwan,” says David Kramer, executive director of the George W. Bush Institute. “I think it is absolutely correct to say that this is not about the freedom of Ukraine.”

Kramer, a former professor and writer, is also an expert on relations with Russia, in particular on Vladimir Putin. In his role at the Bush Institute, he recently issued recommendations on Ukraine policy, urging US lawmakers to increase military support, maintain—even tighten sanctions against the Putin regime, and prepare to continue that support for some time to come. He called the situation a threat to US national security.

“If he could remove the government, the duly elected government in Ukraine, then he might be bolder and try to oppose Latvia or Estonia. Or Lithuania or Poland,” Kramer explains. “These countries are members of NATO… which means that an attack on one is an attack on all, and therefore it is extremely important for us to help Ukraine so that Putin is stopped in Ukraine and then never threatens any other country. Again, this is about our freedom, as well as Ukrainians.”

And this is the warning that Kim repeats.

“Today he will take Ukraine, tomorrow he will take Alaska, you understand? So the Americans should know too… so the Ukrainians [are] not fighting only for their land, [they’re] fight for all civilization in the world to protect the world from a terrorist country.”