In the coming days, Poland will hand over 60 PT-91 tanks from its own army to Ukraine.

The Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, stated this during his visit to Kyiv.

During a joint press conference with President Volodymyr Zelensky, the head of the Polish government posed a question about how quickly Warsaw would be able to supply the Armed Forces of Ukraine with more tanks.

“In the coming days, we will hand over very good PT-91 tanks to Ukraine. So, another 60 tanks will arrive in Ukraine,” Morawiecki said.

The Prime Minister added that Ukrainian military personnel were currently undergoing training in Poland.

“Today, very intensive training of the Ukrainian military is taking place in Poland. Our instructors are impressed by how quickly Ukrainian soldiers learn to use modern tanks,” the Prime Minister emphasized.

РТ-91 Twardy

РТ-91 Twardy is the main battle tank of the Polish army. The tanks were made on the basis of a licensed version of the Soviet Т-72М1 MBT. Its first prototypes were manufactured in 1993. The basic version was mass produced at Bumar-Łabędy until 2002.

During modernization, the machine retained its basic armament – a 125-mm 2A46M-1 tank gun and a twin PKT machine gun. Its armor protection also remained unchanged.

The main goal of the RT-91 modernization was to increase the firepower of the tank. In order to do this, Polish designers installed a modern Polish-made SKO-1M Drava fire control system and a gunner’s thermal sight on the tanks.

In addition, for the sake of increasing the efficiency of the use of tanks as part of the units, the tanks received modern digital radio stations.

The protection of the tank and the crew is additionally strengthened by the Polish-made ERAWA reactive armor. It belongs to the first generation and is capable of countering basic cluster munitions, such as Soviet-era 125 mm cluster munitions, rocket-propelled grenades and old ATGMs.

Besides, the tank’s protection is reinforced by the Obra-4 laser warning system, which warns the crew about the targeting of laser rangefinders and weapons guidance systems through laser beam.

The RT-91 is equipped with a new Polish-made 850 hp PZL-Wola S-12U diesel engine, which replaced the old Soviet-era 780 hp V-46-4 engine.