Ukraine will get 30 Slovak infantry fighting vehicles, according to Defense Minister of Slovak Republic Jaro Nad.
“Glad to confirm that 30 Slovak BMP1 infantry fighting vehicles were donated to Ukraine based on the Ringtausch agreement with Germany. Thanks Christine Lambrecht (German Defense Minister) for excellent coop,” Jaro Nad wrote on Twitter.
Slovakia signed the agreement with Germany based on German “Ringstausch” concept on 23 August 2022. The so-called Ringstausch Ukraine military aid concept stipulates the swap deal to allow NATO countries that have Soviet-era weapons in their inventories to donate them to Ukraine by providing more modern equipment in return.
According to the aforementioned Slovak-German agreement, Slovakia will send a total of 30 IFVs to Ukraine, while Germany will provide Slovakia with tanks, munitions, training and logistics package.
Armoured transportation is crucially important to preserve Ukrainian ability to move on the battlefield and conduct counteroffensive operations. However, the German defense and security expert Gustav C. Gressel claims that the quality of Slovak BMP-1 IFVs is lower than that of modern IFVs produced by western countries due to the confined space and low survivability of BMP-1 vehicles.
