Further Exploration of Italian VCC Deliveries to Ukraine

Following MilitaryLand’s initial article on the revelation of Italian VVC-1 armored personnel carriers in Ukrainian service, with extensive research being undertaken by one of our contributors, Giubbi, we will take a deeper look at the subject in order. This will cover much of the speculation encompassing the vehicles and their role when they arrive.

In May 2025, unconfirmed reports from Italy emerged, reportedly with pledges of 400 tracked armoured personnel carriers bound for Ukraine. Notably, all the relevant articles discussing the decision to send these vehicles were a quote from an official statement, put forth by the Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto, during a hearing at the Italian Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic.

However, these hearings, such as the one that took place on May 7, 2025, in which Crosetto presented the new military aid package, are shrouded in secrecy and are not made public. Consequently, further details on the aid contents are not thorough and are partially unreliable, given the secondary nature of these sources.

Six months before this, a tender announcement was put forth on October 30, 2024, involving the bidding for a service contract, intending to remove asbestos components in 590 vehicles, which are part of the M113 family of vehicles, formerly in service with the Italian Army.

These vehicles had already been decommissioned and were in storage at the Tracked & Armored Vehicle Depot in Lenta, northern Italy. This tender would indicate that the vehicles were being prepared for scrapping; however, they were repurposed to help bolster the Ukrainian military’s arsenal, as indicated by a notice of cancellation for the scrapping on November 15, 2024.

“Notice of Revocation of Tender ASP 4784752

This notice is to inform all economic operators that, for reasons of public interest, it has become necessary to revoke this procedure pursuant to and for the purposes of Article 21-quinquies of Law 241/1990.“

By looking at the composition of vehicle deliveries outlined in the tender, alongside previous deliveries by Italy, the possible numbers of vehicles could potentially resemble: 259 VCC-1s, 52 VCC-1A2s, and 42 VCC-2s. Albeit practically impossible to tell the differences between the VCC-1 and VCC-1A2s, they differ in the fact that the latter model has improved suspension and cooling.

The newer models of VCC-2s would be more likely to be made combat operational, given that they have been in storage for shorter amounts of time. The small deliveries, which were reported, of these vehicles in the first half of 2025 would support this.

Back in roughly June 2024, it was made public that at least 10 VCC-2 vehicles were privately purchased and refurbished by Ukrainian Armor, being the first known deliveries to Ukraine. This would also leave reason to suspect that many armored personnel carrier deliveries may increase over time, as the older variants, VCC-1, are overhauled before being shipped.

For comparison, a train that was sighted travelling between Italy and Hungary throughout October 2025, carried at least 15 VCC-1s, 19 VCC-1s with an Israeli armor package, and 10 M548s. The M548 is an unarmoured tracked logistics transport vehicle, which is entirely unrelated to the M113. Before this, several Italian VCC-1s were spotted being transported on trucks on September 18, 2025.

The history of the delivery provides insight into the composition of vehicles, lending itself to the idea that Italy has delved into its VCC-1 stocks, refurbishing a number of them, and began delivering them to Ukraine following the delivery of VCC-2s.

The tender also includes a list of 76 M113A1 TOW carriers, as well as M113s dedicated to an anti-tank role. The use of dedicated Anti-Tank-Guided-Missile vehicles in combat has been elusive to find a visual record, and it would not be unreasonable to expect vehicles delivered in this configuration to be converted to conventional usage. This trend has been seen with the Sidam-25s that have been delivered by Italy, also being converted into armored personnel carriers in preparation for combat.

The movement of Italian M113A1s is also supported, as in October 2025, a truck, which was geolocated in Milan, northern Italy, transported at least three of the vehicles through the country. These vehicles will be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to determine the origin if they were to enter Ukrainian service due to their profile being identical to other M113s, which have also been delivered by other nations.

While unrecognized, they will nonetheless be crucial to surplus the declining numbers of protected transport vehicles for Ukrainian infantrymen.

Prior to these deliveries, the vehicles had been left outside as storage, exposed to the elements, unsealed, and open to trespassers, who confirmed the existence of these vehicles as published in a YouTube video, confirming that the facility was not abandoned in 2023.

In fact, there is a surplus of Leopard 1 Main Battle Tanks, M548 tracked vehicles, and M113 derivatives, including at least a single C1 Ariete and one Dardo Infantry Fighting Vehicle. The grievances surrounding asbestos and the open-air storage of the vehicles call into question how readily available such vehicles would be to return to service, especially in Ukraine.

Given that six months between the confirmation of their continued existence and the rumours of the delivery pledge, the effort to return these vehicles to a combat-operational status would be substantial to say the least.

In conclusion, unsubstantiated reports from the first half of 2024 about the delivery of these vehicles are, in fact, not unrealistic in terms of scale, but are likely an overly generous figure that will not come to fruition within the year. Due to the questionable conditions of the vehicles, the supply of Italian carriers seems to be best characterized as a slow trickle rather than a rapid boost to Ukrainian mechanized transport capabilities, as the time and cost to make these vehicles operational again would bottleneck the number of readily available vehicles for Ukraine.

The total number delivered to Ukraine this year remains unknown, but it is almost certainly far below 200, let alone the 400 figure, given the scarcity of visual evidence. In the absence of official government confirmation, there is no basis to assume that the figure of 400 is accurate, nor that the burden of the finances and refurbishments lies on the shoulders of the Italian government, due to the precedence of Ukrainian-purchased and refurbished VCC-2s in the past.