In a strategic military movement, the CV90 infantry fighting vehicles, engineered in Sweden, have finally deployed in frontline in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Swedish-made CV90 fighting vehicles have arrived at the front line, apparently somewhere around Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
The deployment makes sense. While southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast is the locus of the Ukrainian armed forces’ three-week-old counteroffensive, Kyiv’s troops also are counterattacking north and south of the ruins of Bakhmut, which Russian forces captured back in May after months of human-wave assaults costing thousands of lives – report Forbes.
The CV90s significantly boost Ukrainian firepower in the Bakhmut sector. They could help the Ukrainians to break through Russian fortifications in the area—and also help them to exploit any breakthroughs.
Constructed by Swedish manufacturers Hägglunds and Bofors, the CV90 is a weighty, 37-ton vehicle with a three-person crew. In its standard version it carries up to six infantry and packs an autocannon in an armored turret.
The vehicle’s popularity in northern Europe can be attributed to its design, specifically optimized for the woodland operations common in Scandinavian terrains – an attribute that also suits eastern Ukraine’s timber-rich environments.
Sweden pledged a donation of 50 CV90s to Ukraine’s war efforts in January. The units within the Ukrainian armed forces operating these vehicles are yet to be disclosed.
Ukrainian forces training with the CV90s anticipated their involvement in the counteroffensive. As one trainee mentioned in June, “We will be at the center of it.” The CV90s were delivered to Ukraine in the middle of June.
The CV90 is the third of three tracked fighting vehicle types Ukraine has received from its foreign allies—and the second type to reach the front line. Ukraine also is getting more than 150 M-2s from the United States as well as 60 Marders from Germany.
The M-2s have already made their mark, engaging in heavy conflict in Zaporizhzhia Oblast since the initiation of the counteroffensive on June 4. The vehicles’ swift movement and long-range combat ability have proved effective, despite initial setbacks such as the minefield incident in early June.
The M-2’s attributes include a 25-millimeter autocannon and a dual-launch system for TOW anti-tank missiles with a two-mile range. The TOW, however, necessitates clear sightlines, making the open fields of the south a strategic deployment location.
The CV90, on the other hand, is built for closer engagements in forested areas. Its primary weapon, a 40-millimeter L/70 autocannon, discharges two-pound shells at a high rate and speed. The L/70 can effectively slice through trees, operating akin to a chainsaw, particularly when firing armor-piercing sabot rounds. This marks the arrival of the CV90s in the heavily wooded Eastern Ukraine region as a significant development in the ongoing conflict.
Also, the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Oleksii Reznikov, shared a video on Twitter showing Swedish-supplied CV90 IFVs operating in Ukraine and thanked his Swedish colleague, Pål Jonson, for delivering these IFVs.
