Tanks of the Ukrainian Army have been used within the military, with their usage and origin after the Cold War; and the modern era. This includes tanks manufactured in Ukraine, leftover Soviet tanks in the Ukrainian Ground Forces today as well as designs imported from other countries and tanks captured in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
History Prior to the October Revolution of 1917, independent armed forces in Ukraine existed and had distinct organisation and uniforms in both the First World War and the Second World War. These armed forces, and the independent Ukrainian homeland for which they fought, were eventually incorporated into the neighboring states of Poland, Soviet Union, Hungary, Romania and Czechoslovakia.Abbott, P. & E. Pinak Ukrainian Armies 1914–55 (Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2004), , 9781780964010
Collapse of the USSR
Upon their establishment in 1991, the Armed Forces of Ukraine was left with its tank forces intact which included approximately 7,000 armored vehicles, 6,500 tanks, and 2,500 tactical nuclear missiles. Following the declaration of Ukrainian independence in 1991, Ukraine inherited the 1st Guards Army, 13th Army, 38th Army, two tank armies (the 6th Guards Tank Army and the 8th Tank Army), and the 32nd Army Corps at Simferopol. The 28th Guards Motor Rifle Division and the 180th Rifle Division were left in Ukraine, having been previously under the 14th Guards Army headquartered at Tiraspol in the Moldovan SSR.ANALYSIS: Ukraine adopts program for military reform , 03/02/1997
Sources of tanks for Ukrainian ground forces
In the early 1960's, Ukraine developed and built the T-64 tank which is the most numerous tank Ukraine has today and was manufactured in Kharkiv, and designed by the KhMDB. It was a more advanced counterpart to the T-62 with heavier armor and replaced the smaller-diameter guns on the T-54/55/62 line with a new smoothbore 125-millimeter gun. It also introduced a number of advanced features including composite armour, a compact engine and transmission, and its 125-mm gun was equipped with an autoloader to allow the crew to be reduced to three so the tank could be smaller and lighter. In spite of being armed and armoured like a heavy tank, the T-64 weighed only . The 700-horsepower diesel engine with a more compact transmission replaced the bigger but less powerful powertrains on older tank types.
These features made the T-64 expensive to build, significantly more so than previous generations of Soviet tanks. This was especially true of the powerpack, which was time-consuming to build and cost twice as much as more conventional designs. Several proposals were made to improve the T-64 with new engines, but chief designer Alexander Alexandrovich Morozov's political power in Moscow kept the design in production in spite of any concerns about price. The result was a fast, heavily armed and thickly armored tank that, on paper, at least matched contemporary Western tanks. Ukraine also had T80 tanks which it captured, and also had the Ukrainian T-80UD diesel engine variant produced in Ukraine. The T-80 variant was sold to many countries, and Ukraine further developed the T-80UD as the T-84.
From 1991, the Ukrainian Ground Forces bought its military equipment only from Russia and other CIS states, as well as locally producing some of their own equipment.In the Army Now: Answering Many Why's , The Ukrainian Week (8 July 2014)Ukraine must stop importing Russian weapons, switch to NATO standards , Interfax-Ukraine (18 December 2014) Until 2014 and the start of the war in Donbas, the defence industry in Ukraine produced equipment mostly for export.Ukraine crisis timeline , BBC News The Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau abbreviated KMDB, a Ukrainian state-owned company in Kharkiv, Ukraine, designed armoured vehicles, including the T-80UD and T-84 main battle tanks. The T-84 entered service with the Military of Ukraine in 1999, and the more advanced Oplot version in 2001. The T-84-120 and Yatagan has been developed employing an auto-loaded 120mm tank gun which fires NATO ammunition as well as ATGMs.
Ukraine received a number of PT91 Twardy in 2022, a Polish main battle tank based on T-72M1 that developed sometime between the late 1980s and early 1990s. These PT91 Twardy had a new digital fire-control system, newly developed ERA and an uprated powerplant and had the Soviet-made Volna fire control system replaced by the Czechoslovak-made Kladivo FCS or by the Polish SKO-1 Mérida, which was originally designed for T-55AM "Merida", and is equipped with a Wola 850-horsepower diesel engine. Besides the new FCS, the Radomka passive night vision devices were installed in the driver's compartment, as was the Liswarta night sight, Obra laser illumination warning system, Tellur anti-laser smoke grenade launchers, solid or modular metal side skirts and the Polish-developed Erawa-1 or Erawa-2 explosive reactive armour was also fitted on the PT91 Twardy. Poland is said to have sent Ukraine some 232 T-72 tanks in its fight against the Russian invasion.
On 20 January 2023, the Netherlands offered Leopard 2 tanks. The offers are conditional on mutual agreement by multiple nations; Germany will not block the export of Leopard 2s (by Poland, Finland, Denmark, to Ukraine. Poland has requested approval to export Leopard 2s to Ukraine. On 25 January 2023, the US agreed to send tanks to Ukraine under the auspices of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) in a $400 million package; 31 M1 Abrams tanks (an entire Ukraine tank battalion),David Vergun, DOD News (25 Jan 2023) Biden Announces Abrams Tanks to be Delivered to Ukraine and 8 M88 Recovery Vehicles (for rescuing mired tanks)Kyle Mizokami (6 Feb 20230) How M88 Hercules Vehicles Will Keep Abrams Tanks Out of Russia's Grip will not arrive in Ukraine for months. Germany has also agreed to send over a dozen Leopard 2s to Ukraine, and will support the donation with ammunition and training in Germany. Germany has agreed to approve the reexport of Leopard 2s from other nations to Ukraine.APA (25 Jan 2023) Germany set to approve Leopards for Ukraine, as U.S. promises M1 tanksMarcel Plichta (25 Jan 2023) Swarm of Tanks Is Just the Start of Putin's New NightmareNathalie Tocci (Winter 2022/2023) The Paradox of Europe's Defense Moment Texas National Security Review Vol 6, (Iss 1) The goal is to send 80 Leopard 2s to Ukraine. By 25 January 2023, the list of nations willing to send tanks to Ukraine had grown (UK—14 Challenger 2s, US—31 Abrams M1A2,Ashley Roque and Sydney J. Freedberg, Jr. (27 Jan 2023) What, where, how: After the Abrams-for-Ukraine announcement, a host of questions "In picking the precise type of M1 tank to send, the US must choose between giving Ukraine the best tech possible and risking the capture of secrets by Russia". Canada—8 Leopard 2s, Germany— 112 Leopard 1s (eventually 2 battalions (some 88 tanks) plus 14 2A4s immediately), Poland—14 Leopard 2A4s, Finland—14 Leopard 2 A4/A6s, Denmark—6 Leopard 2A5/A7s, Netherlands—18 Leopard 2A4s, Norway—8 Leopard 2A4s, Portugal—4 Leopard 2A4s, and Spain— 20-53 Leopard 2A4s (20 are in good condition, the remainder need repair) respectively).TCM Clips (26 Jan 2023) Ukraine vs Russia Update - USA Sending Tanks - Putin AttacksThe New Voice of Ukraine (27 Jan 2023) Six advantages. What will Leopard 2, Abrams, and Challenger 2 change for Ukraine? Ukraine's evaluation On 23 February, Finland announced its contribution will include 3 pieces of Leopard 2 mine clearing tanks built in Leopard 2A4 platform. A day later, on 24 February 2023, Sweden’s Minister of Defence Pål Jonson announced the donation of 10 Stridsvagn 122 based on the Leopard 2A5 tanks to Ukraine, along with CV90 infantry fighting vehicles.
On 7 February 2023, the European community determined that industrial manufacturers hold 178 Leopard 1 tanks which could be refurbished and provided to Ukraine, with 20-25 Leopard 1A5 tanks available in the upcoming months of 2023. The remainder could be delivered in 2024, assuming that Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark fund them.
In total, as of January 2023, Western countries have promised to deliver more than 300 tanks to Ukraine, including Leopard 2, Challenger 2, and M1 Abrams tanks.
Russian-Ukrainian War War in Donbas (2014–2022)
In the early months of the war in Donbas that erupted in 2014, the Armed Forces were widely criticised for their poor equipment and inept leadership, forcing Internal Affairs Ministry forces like the National Guard and the territorial defence battalions to take on the brunt of the fighting in the first months of the war.
By February 2018, the Ukrainian armed forces were larger and better equipped, numbering 200,000 active-service military personnel. Most of the volunteer soldiers of the territorial defence battalions were integrated into the official Ukrainian army. Ukraine used mainly Russian or Warsaw Pact designed tanks prior to the invasion, with over 800-900 tanks in service at the beginning of the war. There were some models it had made in its factories, but because of the need on the economic side, some were sold for export. It had mainly T-84BM/U Oplot, T-80BV, a T-64BM with an estimated 800 active T-64 tanks, and a large number of T72 variants, but 700 were sold to third world countries. The most notable Ukrainian tank was the T-64 main battle tank which was designed and produced in Ukraine and was modernized as the T-64BM Bulat and considered technologically superior to the Russian counterparts.
Full-scale Russian invasion
On 24 February 2022, Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The invasion began on 24 February 2022, launched out of Belarus to target Kyiv, and from the northeast against the city of Kharkiv. The southeastern front was conducted as two separate spearheads, from Crimea and the southeast against Luhansk and Donetsk. The Ukrainian tank battle at Chernihiv by the 1st Tank Brigade’s T-64B and T-64BM tanks against the Russian 41st Combined Arms Army with its 20,000 troops and hundreds of T-72 tanks in defense of the city and holding out, was remarkable. On 25 March 2022, the Ukrainians began a counter-offensive in the north which retook several towns to the east and west of Kyiv, including Makariv. Russian troops in the Bucha area retreated north at the end of March. Ukrainian forces entered the city on 1 April. The Ground Forces have been participants of most of the land combat actions of the current war.
The counter offensive also spread to Kharkiv, and on 13 May 2022, BBC reported that Russian troops in Kharkiv were being retracted and redeployed to other fronts in Ukraine following the advances of Ukrainian troops into surrounding cities and Kharkiv itself, which included the destruction of strategic pontoon bridges built by Russian troops to cross over the Seversky Donets river and previously used for rapid tank deployment in the region.