A Ukrainian Strv 122 and Leopard 2A6.
Army T.V. capture
Sweden donated 10 of its best Strv 122 tanks to Ukraine. In two years of hard fighting, Russian forces have scored no fewer than 14 hits on the 63-ton, four-person tanks—possibly meaning all 10 of the tanks have been damaged, some more than once.
Incredibly, most of the tanks—up-armored Swedish variants of the German-made Leopard 2A5—are still operational, according to one detailed accounting. The tanks’ durability is testimony to German and Swedish engineering and the courage and ingenuity of Ukrainian engineers who must tow damaged tanks off the battlefield for repairs.
One survivor of the 10 original Strv 122s made an appearance on Ukrainian Army T.V. recently. The Swedish tanks “are sharpened” compared to the baseline Leopard 2A5, one tanker said.
The Strv 122s all belong to the Ukrainian army’s 21st Mechanized Brigade, which also operates the survivors of 21 Leopard 2A6s as well as a few older Leopard 1A5s. The brigade supported Ukraine’s August invasion of Russia’s Kursk Oblast and, under attack by an elite Russian drone group, may have evacuated the oblast in recent days alongside other Ukrainian brigades.
The 21st Mechanized Brigade has fitted its tanks with additional protection, including anti-drone screens stretched across custom-made frames. “They need frames,” the brigade tanker told Army T.V. “There is not a single tank in our battalion” without them.
Extra protection
The add-on armor works. One up-armored Leopard 1A5 recently shrugged off eight Russian drones before three more finally immobilized it.
The toughness of Ukraine’s German-designed tanks helps explain why these vehicles no longer top the list of Ukraine’s equipment needs. Of the 259 Strv 122s, Leopard 2A6s, Leopard 2A4s and Leopard 1A5s the allies have pledged since 2023, most have been delivered—and just 30 or so have been destroyed. Ukraine also got, or will get, modern tanks from the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia.
No, what Ukraine needs is drones, defenses against drones, long-range air defenses, artillery shells and—more than anything else—a more robust and fair mobilization system to replenish its depleted infantry battalions with fresh troops.
The tanks Ukraine already has—not just hundreds of Western models, but also a thousand or more Soviet-style T-64s, T-72s and T-80s—should suffice. Especially considering that the best of these tanks can absorb a lot of damage … and keep fighting.
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