According to the release, delivery of the first T-80BW tank took place one month before the planned deadline. The modernization process is being carried out by the Malyshev plant in Kharkiv. The main aim of modernization is to get the tanks fitted with the Kontakt reactive armour.

Numerous T-80 tanks of different varieties have been stored in the factory storages, since the fall of the Soviet Union. Earlier on, information was released, according to which the above-mentioned vehicles were dismantled in order to use elements of them within the scope of repairs or modernization of other armoured vehicles, damaged throughout the fights against the separatists.

The first of the modernized vehicles would, soon, be taking part in the counter-terrorism operation. Crew training is going to be carried out on-site, by the plant which implements the modernization. The tanks would be probably sent to four brigades of the Ukrainian airborne units – one company of 10 tanks for each unit.

Before the crisis broke out, the Ukrainian army used T-64B tanks, along with their modernized variant – T-64BM Bulat. After the crisis has started, some of the T-72 tanks were also rumoured to have been used, also by the Ukrainian National Guard.