The American publication The Washington Post has released a new article regarding the current situation in Ukraine amid the full-scale war against the aggressor state, Russia.
This publication features an illustration, including a photograph of a BOV wheeled armored vehicle of Yugoslav origin, equipped with anti-drone protection and utilized in battles against Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine.
From Defense Express, we want to emphasize that we will not discuss the entire WP publication, which you can read at this link. Instead, we wish to highlight this particular detail involving the Yugoslav BOV armored vehicle in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which, in a sense, "is worth a thousand words" and visually illustrates the challenges faced by our defenders in repelling the aggressor in Eastern Ukraine.
It is also important to clarify that the aforementioned photo represents the very first public documentation of the presence of Yugoslav BOV wheeled armored vehicles within the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Prior to this, there were only mentions in the media about Slovenia having transferred 26 vehicles of this type to Ukraine in the spring of 2024.
Finally, to elaborate – these Yugoslav wheeled armored vehicles were received by our military against the backdrop of a delay in military assistance from the U.S., which persisted from the autumn of 2023 until the end of April 2024. Currently, these Yugoslav BOV armored vehicles can be regarded as a specific symbol of how insufficient the volumes of military aid from the West in heavy weaponry for the Armed Forces of Ukraine are at present.
As of now, these BOV wheeled armored vehicles are not being produced serially, and even for the Balkan countries, this equipment has become rare: by early 2024, Slovenia no longer had these vehicles in service, the Croatian army had only six of this type, the Bosnian and Herzegovinian military possessed 32 vehicles, and the Serbian army had 70 vehicles.
The specifications of the BOV wheeled armored vehicles are as follows:
- combat weight – 9.1 tons;
- crew – 2 personnel, with the capacity to accommodate up to 8 troops;
- maximum speed – up to 95 km/h on highways.
Previously, Defense Express also reported on the differences between the T-72M1 and M-84 tanks, which Croatia is set to provide to the Armed Forces of Ukraine as part of one of the military assistance formats.