"Azov’s tank crewmen are ready to start working with the Azovets experimental armored fighting vehicle. It is a unique vehicle designed first and foremost for urban combat," a statement posted on the regiment’s official website said.
Although it is a regular military unit serving with Ukraine's National Guard, the regiment was originally a volunteer battalion comprised of right-wing extremists with an affinity for Nazi symbolism.
Azovets' creators claimed that a vehicle for urban warfare was in fact invented by Nazi Germany during WWII, and that their tank’s ability to engage targets located on upper floors would make it an efficient weapon during a city-fight.
The Azovets has a crew complement of four and despite being called a tank, is armed with two twin-linked autocannons and guided anti-tank missile launchers of an as-yet unspecified type.
Furthermore, the Azovets' creators claim that their vehicle’s formidable defensive capabilities make it virtually impervious to all types of anti-tank weaponry in existence.
The vehicle was first presented to Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov in November 2015 who praised it as Ukraine's first 'innovative tank.'
However, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin was less than impressed by this fearsome new weapon.
"Ukraine’s military-industrial complex innovatively made a new tank out of dumpsters," he remarked on Twitter.
ВПК Украины инновационно изготовил новый танк из мусорных контейнеров https://t.co/GF9SdmMCOi
— Dmitry Rogozin (@Rogozin) 28 ноября 2015 г.
It remains unclear if and when the Ukrainian military is going to adopt this new armored vehicle.
