The Come Back Alive Foundation implemented a large-scale project to purchase armored vehicles for the Ukrainian military.

With the people’s donations, the organization managed to purchase 11 LC79 APC-SH Fighter 2 armored vehicles. The total transaction amount was 2 million 321 thousand euros.

The new equipment is intended for the Rear Admiral Mykhailo Bilynskyi 36th Separate Marine Brigade, which was previously involved in defending Mariupol. Now, the unit has regained its strength and is defending Ukraine again.

Fighter 2 is produced in the United States on the basis of the Toyota Land Cruider 79 SUV chassis. The vehicles meet the requirements of the European Standardization Committee (CEN) and have a BR6 level of protection.

“The request from the troops for equipment, including armored, such as special armored vehicles, came to be literally immediately after the start of a full-scale invasion, namely in March 2022. The request is quite massive, since the Armed Forces have grown multiple times: Territorial Defense Forces, Jager and Motorized Infantry Brigades, Reserve Corps. In March, we tried to purchase a batch of armored vehicles through one of the Ukrainian special exporters twice. Unfortunately, the effort was unsuccessful. We decided to implement the third agreement on our own, having received the appropriate permissions. And, finally, as can be seen, the equipment for the company, namely 11 vehicles, was successfully brought to Ukraine and will immediately go to the frontline,” said Taras Chmut, Director of the Come Back Alive Foundation.

Armored vehicles withstand the impact of bullets of the 5.56x45mm, 5.45x39mm, 7.62x39mm, and 7.62x51mm caliber at a distance of at least 10 meters, and the explosion of the two-hand anti-personnel grenades DM51.

In addition, armored vehicles have a turret to set up weapons, including machine guns of various calibers and automatic grenade launchers, for example, American Mk.19. They can also carry 6 people in the landing compartment.

“These armored vehicles were actually the first military use goods that could be processed by the Come Back Alive Foundation at the State Export Control Service. And it was these armored vehicles where the story, which stimulated me with the support of many people to still push through changes into the Tax and Customs Codes, began. In fact, through these vehicles, both I and the Foundation learned to deal within this completely unknown territory. For me, this was the most difficult transaction. These armored vehicles should be remembered by the whole organization as they have launched work in this direction,” Ruslana Velychko, lawyer, Come Back Alive Foundation volunteer, and First Deputy Executive Director of the Ukrainian Veteran Fund, commented.

One of the Fighter 2 vehicles was named in honor of Ruslana Velychko:

Хлопчик дарує квіти
ЧОЛОВІК дарує ⬇️

Тут саме з великої букви все pic.twitter.com/1j9cbQVYFI

— Ruslana Velychko (@velychkor) September 8, 2022

The vehicles received a reinforced suspension and a 4.5-liter eight-cylinder turbo diesel engine with a capacity of 195 horsepower, which provides a maximum speed of 100 km/h. It has two 90L protected fuel tanks and can drive for 800 km.

“The Foundation team transfers these armored vehicles to the 36th Marine Brigade, which, unfortunately, lost all its equipment and a significant part of the people in the battles for Mariupol. Thus we decided to join in restoring the combat capability of this legendary detachment of the Ukrainian military. In addition to the equipment that the state handed over to the marines, it is necessary to additionally strengthen the 36th Brigade with light armored vehicles,” said Andrii Rymaruk, Director of the Foundation’s Military Department.

According to him, now the marines of the 36th Brigade are again actively involved in the military action, so the new armored vehicles will be of great use to them.