Armored personnel carriers (APCs) recently supplied by the UK to Kiev forces have been spotted in Ukraine for the very first time.
On July 9, Ukrainian sources shared a photo showing a number of British-made FV103 Spartan APCs near the settlement of Bakhmut in the Donbass region where Kiev forces have been trying to halt the advance of the Russian military and its allies.
The Spartan was developed during the 1970s by Alvis plc. The vehicle entered service with the British military in 1978 and was phased out in the 1995.
The APC can carry seven personnel in a combination of three crew members and four passengers or two crew members and five passengers. It is armed with one 7.62 mm L37A1 machine gun and can have four smoke dischargers on each side. The vehicle has combat weight of 10,670 kilograms. It can achieve a maximum speed of 96 kilometers per hour and has a range of 510 kilometers.
The UK committed to supply 35 Spartan APCs to Ukraine as a part of a package made of 120 vehicles that was announced in April. The package included 80 Mastiff, Husky and Wolfhound armored vehicles as well as five Samaritan ambulances and Sultan armored command vehicles. Ukrainian troops were trained on the vehicles in the UK.
While the Spartan can provide protection against light fire, it can’t survive an attack with artillery or even older anti-tank guided missiles.
Just like the rest of Ukraine’s Western allies, the UK has been supplying Kiev forces with its older weapons on the hope of prolonging the conflict to weaken Russia.