The United States and Germany have announced plans to send Ukraine dozens of advanced battle tanks, hailed by Kyiv as a potential turning point in its fight in the Russia-Ukraine conflict but denounced by Moscow as an "extremely dangerous" step.

Saying Ukraine now has a "tank coalition," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the commitments and urged allies to provide large quantities of tanks quickly. "The key now is speed and volumes. Speed in training our forces, speed in supplying tanks to Ukraine. The numbers in tank support," he said in a nightly video address on Wednesday.

Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine's presidential administration, stressed in a post on the Telegram messaging app that the tank commitments so far were "only the beginning. We need hundreds of tanks."

U.S. President Joe Biden announced the U.S. decision to supply 31 M1 Abrams tanks hours after Berlin said it would provide Leopard 2 tanks.

Biden said the United States is also sending Ukraine parts and equipment necessary to sustain the sophisticated tanks, adding that Washington will soon begin to train Ukrainian soldiers on how to operate and maintain the tanks, the delivery of which, he noted, will take time.

Germany, previously the West's holdout amid deep reluctance to export offensive weapons, said it would send an initial company of 14 tanks from its own stocks and also approve shipments by allied European states.

"This decision follows our well-known line of supporting Ukraine to the best of our ability," Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at a government meeting in Berlin. "We are acting in a closely coordinated manner internationally."

Other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have recently put pressure on Germany to supply battle tanks to Ukraine. On Tuesday, Poland was the first country to officially request Berlin's approval to send tanks from its own stock.

As Germany will now supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine, NATO partners were also given the go-ahead to do so. Ukrainian crews are also to be provided with training on the Leopard tanks as well as logistics, ammunition and maintenance for the systems, the German government said.

Kyiv has been calling for months for Western battle tanks that would give its forces greater firepower, protection and mobility to break through long-static front lines and potentially reclaim occupied territory in the east and south. Ukraine and Russia have both relied primarily on Soviet-era T-72 tanks, which have been destroyed in their hundreds in 11 months of war.

Moscow reacted with fury to Germany's announcement. "This extremely dangerous decision takes the conflict to a new level of confrontation," said Sergei Nechayev, Moscow's ambassador to Germany.

Pledges to Ukraine from other countries that field Leopards, which Germany made in the thousands and exported to allies in NATO, multiplied this week with announcements from Poland, Finland and Norway.

Spain and the Netherlands said they were considering it. Britain offered 14 of its comparable Challenger tanks and France is considering sending its Leclercs.

Moscow says supplying modern offensive weaponry to Ukraine will only postpone what is said was Russia's inevitable victory. Anatoly Antonov, Russia's ambassador in Washington, said deliveries of U.S. tanks would be "another blatant provocation."

(With input from Reuters and Xinhua)