Ukraine's Kozak-2M1 armored multipurpose wheeled combat vehicle has successfully completed state tests, the Ukrainian League of Defense Companies said in a statement on its website.

"This is the first time that an armored vehicle of this class has been tested in Ukraine since independence. The Kozak-2M1 is a full-fledged armored vehicle designed for a wide range of combat uses. The Kozak-2M1 is even classed differently, as the armored combat wheeled vehicle [...] Essentially, the Kozak-2M1 is a compact armored personnel carrier," the league's chief executive and PrJSC Practika company's board chairman Oleh Vysotsky said.

The Kozak-2M1 is a military vehicle with no vehicle frame and a monocoque body, he said. It is a good off-road, high-speed, steady vehicle with a low height, which reduces its exposure, he said.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry conducted comparative tests of 11 armored vehicles of various manufacturers in early 2016, but only three of them, including the Kozak-2M1, passed the state tests, he said. The trials of the Kozak-2M1 continued from October 2018 to July 2019, during which time the vehicle was tested with over 50 techniques and in a simulated combat environment.

Globally, there are no more than ten manufacturers who make this type of vehicle worldwide, in the United States, Switzerland, and France. None of the former Soviet republics has not yet produced an analogue on its own, Vysotsky said.

"The testing of the Kozak-2M1 vehicle is not just Practika's success. It is a joint success for Ukraine's entire defense-industrial complex, the Defense Ministry, and the Armed Forces. Work on creating the vehicle involved a large number of enterprises, both private and public ones. This is a big success for all of us," he said.