The Ministry of the National Defense Republic of Korea on Sunday announced that South Korea will provide Ukraine two K600 “Rhino” combat engineering vehicles as part of the next tranche of aid for Kyiv to defend against Russia’s invasion.
“It is understood that our government has recently made a de facto decision to provide Ukraine with two obstacle-clearing vehicles as soon as possible in addition to the older mine detectors already provided to Ukraine,” a government source said on Sunday, adding, “This is in response to the Ukrainian government’s strong request and President Yun Suk-yeol’s promise to support Ukraine.” President Yun pledged to provide non-lethal goods, including demining equipment, and post-war reconstruction assistance to President Zelensky during the South Korea-Ukraine summit at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, in May.
Although K600 is not a lethal weapon, it can be used to break through enemy defenses if necessary, making it the most powerful vehicle South Korea has ever provided to Ukraine.
The advanced engineering vehicles are built on a K1A1 main battle tank chassis and equipped with a powerful magnetic field generator to disable advanced mines.
The K600 “Rhino” is a highly mobile and heavily armored minefield and complex obstacle breaching system. The combat engineering vehicle is designed to improve the mobility and survivability of combat engineers while having the speed and ability to keep pace with the maneuver force.