Netherlands is sending hundreds of infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine

In today’s warfare infantry fighting vehicles are arguably more important than main battle tanks. They are more numerous, they take soldiers to assaults, and can carry out medevac and supply missions. Infantry fighting vehicles are smaller, faster, and can be more flexible. And Ukraine needs a lot of them. That is why the Netherlands is sending hundreds of YPR-765 vehicles to Ukraine.

Dutch YPR-765 with an Enclosed Weapon Station. Image credit: Leger Film via Wikimedia

The YPR-765 is a Dutch infantry fighting vehicle, which entered service with the Royal Netherlands Army in 1977. At one point the Netherlands had 2,079 such vehicles – way more than they had main battle tanks. Naturally, there were many different versions of the YPR-765 – battlefield ambulances, command vehicles, supply vehicles, recovery vehicles, tank destroyers, etc. Of course, the infantry fighting vehicle was its primary job.

The YPR-765 is 5,26 metres long and weighs just under 14 tonnes. It has welded aluminium and spaced laminate steel armour, which was made to be light, but provide decent protection for the crew of 3 and 7 passengers. Most YPR-765s are armed with a 25 mm autocannon and a 7.62 mm machine gun, but there are versions armed with TOW anti-tank missiles.

The YPR-765 has a 197 kW diesel engine, which can propel this vehicle to a speed of 61.2 km/h. It is definitely not the fastest or the most protected infantry fighting vehicle out there, but it is still very important for Ukraine.

YPR-765s were spotted in Ukraine as early as 2022. And it didn’t come as a surprise, because the Netherlands retired their entire YPR-765 fleet. They sold some of those machines to other countries, like Bahrein, Egypt, Chile and Jordan, but several hundred of them stayed in warehouses in the Netherlands. And so the YPR-765 was helping Ukraine to defend Bakhmut. In early April 2023 the Dutch Ministry of Defence revealed that 196 YPR-765s were provided to Ukraine. Now it’s been reported that this number has grown to 207 vehicles and more are still coming. In fact, Ukraine may expect hundreds of YPR-765s to come, which is great news.