Page 11 - UKRRptSept21

armoured convoy which was led by three advanced T-84 Oplot machines, including the one that was produced as recently as 2021 as part of a special contract with the Kharkiv Tank Factory.
Then Ukrainian-produced BTR-3 and BTR-4 armoured personnel carriers and their numerous modifications joined the party, followed by armoured cars Kozak-2, Bars-8, Humvees, and many more.
The Novator vehicles carried the holy grail of Ukraine’s defence community, the US-provided FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile system that it provided Ukraine in 2018. Ukraine was helpless against Russia’s heavy main battle tanks until the tank-busting Javelin were delivered. However, the US has imposed restrictions on the use of the Javelin which cannot be used on the front line except in special circumstance of full out invasion by Russian forces.
The artillery on display was also impressive. It featured the veteran-heavy 152-millimetre pieces 2A36 Giatsynt-B and 2A65 Msta-B, as well as the country’s main missile weapons, such as the new 300-millimeter Vilkha systems, than the Buk-M1s that are from the same family of Russian-made surface to air missiles that brought down the Malaysian commercial flight MH17 in the 2014 tragedy. Ukraine also has the older Russian S-300 missile defence system, which is still considered to be highly effective, but has since been surpassed by the S-400 and Russia is due to release an S-500 version this year.
The parade also produced another long-awaited novelty: the Ukrainian-produced anti-ship missiles Neptun that had also been recently accepted for service to defend the nation’s southern coastline. With an effective range of 300 km, the missile is another game-changer in Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.
Meanwhile, on the Dnipro River, Ukraine’s navy demonstrated a group of Gurza-class gunboats and small landing vessels. Investment into the navy has become an important factors in Ukraine’s defence as after more than a decade’s absence Russia is back as a naval force and in the last 15 years it has pushed to re-establish itself in the Mediterranean, with unexpected success. Naval power off the coast of Ukraine was highlighted after Russian and Ukrainian navies clashed in the Kerch straights in November 2018 that and the access to the Sea of Azov, that is home to several strategically important Ukrainian ports, was closed off by the Russian navy in a major international incident.
Prior to the war in the country’s east beginning in 2014, Ukraine’s ability to defend itself was severely restricted. It gave up its nuclear weapons in 1994 as part of the Budapest Memorandum, in exchange for American and British promises to defend its territorial integrity, while its military industrial complex rotted. Ukraine sold off large chunks of military equipment it inherited from the Soviet Union, such as the S-300s missile systems to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in the late 1990s and three MiG-29s to Chad in 2014.
11 UKRAINE Country Report September 2021 www.intellinews.com