Ukrainian Air Assault Forces received new armored vehicles.

The news about this was published by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov in his social media.

“Today, together with the commander of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, Major General Maksym ‘Mike’ Myrhorodsky, and our paratroopers, I had the honor of running a new addition to our armored units. Challenger from Britain, Stryker, and Cougar from the USA and Marder from Germany,” the minister wrote.

Oleksii Reznikov told he personally tried driving one of the transferred Challenger 2 tanks.

“By the way, after personally piloting the Challenger, as a participant in trophy raids, I can say that even a Rolls-Royce driver will not be as comfortable as the crew of these tanks,” Reznikov noted.

The photos released by the defense minister show previously announced equipment such as the Stryker armored fighting vehicle, the Challenger 2 tank, the Cougar and Roshel Senator armored vehicles, and the Marder infantry fighting vehicle.

The transfer of 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles together with Leopard 2A6 tanks was announced by German publications earlier this day.

Militarnyi also reported with reference to foreign media that Ukrainian servicemen have completed training in Great Britain on Challenger 2 tanks, therefore the crews of combat vehicles have already returned to Ukraine. The public appearance of these tanks and their crews in Ukraine confirmed this.

Stryker armored fighting vehicle

On January 20, 2023, the United States announced a new $2.5 billion aid package for Ukraine. The new aid package consists of 90 Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) with 20 mine rollers. This is the first appearance of this vehicle in Ukraine.

The U.S. armored fighting vehicle is capable to transport 9 troops and two crew members. The armored vehicle is equipped with a Protector Remote Weapon System (RWS), which can be armed with a M2 Browning 12.7mm heavy machine gun or a Mk19 40mm automatic grenade launcher.

The high speed of movement and patency should qualitatively increase the mobility of units of the Air Assault Forces. At the same time, mine rollers should protect the crew from being blown up on the mine barriers that the Russians are setting up along the entire front line.

Cougar MRAP

The Cougar is a mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) produced by the US company Force Protection Inc. As part of the military aid package, the USA undertook to transfer 37 such armored vehicles to Ukraine.

Cougars protect the 9-person crew from a wide range of damage, including detonation on an explosive device or small-arms fire from the vehicle.

The vehicle can be armed with a large-caliber 12.7mm machine gun or a 40mm automatic grenade launcher.