Sweden’s government announced a new military aid package to Ukraine on Thursday, which will include armored infantry fighting vehicles, and said it had ordered its defense forces to also prepare to send Archer artillery systems, Reuters reported.
Sweden will send about 50 Type 90 infantry fighting vehicles, Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Bush said at a press conference. The government did not specify how many systems Archer will supply.
Sweden has 48 self-propelled Archer Systems howitzers manufactured by BAE Bofors, which Ukraine has long demanded to have in its arsenal.
The SEK 4.3 billion ($419 million) package will also include NLAW anti-tank weapons.
“Military support to Ukraine is absolutely important,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at a press conference. “Ukraine’s wishes regarding what they want have a lot of weight in our decision.”
Before the package presented on Thursday, Sweden announced about 5 billion Swedish crowns in military aid to Ukraine, as well as several tranches of humanitarian aid.
Sweden currently presides over the EU and, together with Finland, submitted an application to join the NATO alliance.
The Swedish prime minister recently told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi that “we want to do more,” adding that he expects “decisions will be made in January.”
Western allies recently announced hundreds of armored vehicles for Ukraine
The Combat Vehicle 90 (CV90) is a family of Swedish tracked combat vehicles developed by the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration, Hägglunds and Bofors from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, entering service in Sweden in the mid-1990s.
Sweden’s statement regarding armored vehicles appeared after a wave of similar statements from Western countries supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression.
On Wednesday, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Annad went to Kyiv for talks with the Ukrainian leadership and announced the delivery of 200 Senator armored personnel carriers.
Also, earlier this week, the British announced that in addition to a company of Challenger 2 tanks, they will supply Ukraine with several hundred armored vehicles, including Bulldog models.
Also this month, the US announced that it is sending Bradley battle tanks to Ukraine (most likely 50 units), and Germany that it will deliver 40 Marder battle tanks in the first quarter of this year.
In addition, France said it would arm the Ukrainian army with an unspecified number of AMX-10 RC light tanks.
Source: Hot News
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