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The Stryker AFV Can Be Equipped With a Mine Trawl, Such Vehicles Are Possible to Be In Ukraine

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M1132 Engineer Squad Vehicle (ESV) / Illustrative photo from open sources
M1132 Engineer Squad Vehicle (ESV) / Illustrative photo from open sources

The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to accumulate the equipment necessary to break through russia’s echeloned defense

In the spring of 2023, the White House announced another package of military aid for Ukraine, which included the transfer of a total of 90 Stryker armored fighting vehicles. A minimum of 20 units were to belong to the engineering modification M1132 (ESV), which is distinguished by the mounted trawls for combating anti-tank and anti-personnel mines.

Several months have passed, and confirmation has finally appeared that Ukraine has received and the M1132 Stryker engineer squad vehicles (ESV), although the location and time of action in this video is actually unknown.

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The transfer of the M1132 (ESV) Stryker to Ukraine is important since such equipment will help Ukraine’s military pass through enemy minefields, which in turn are a component of the echeloned defense, deployed in the temporarily occupied territories of the south of Ukraine. The russian occupiers are betting on fortification as a means of "slowing down" the movement of Ukraine’s troops, so any engineering equipment that will support mechanized units in battle is important to the AFU.

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US Marines on the Stryker during the Sea Breeze-2021 exercise in Ukraine, July 2021 / Open source photo

As for the Stryker in the regular M1126 version for mechanized units, here is the picture how it looks. The first videos showing that the Armed Forces of Ukraine servicemen began to master these machines at the training grounds of one of the NATO countries (probably Germany) appeared on the Internet at the end of March 2023.

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The M1126 Stryker in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, April 2023 / Credits: Praise the Steph twitter profile

And already in early April, photos appeared that suggest that the M1126 Stryker might already be on the territory of Ukraine.

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