Breaking News | Sweden is considering sending military advisors to Ukraine as early as fall 2024.

Starting in the fall of 2024, Sweden may deploy personnel in Ukraine to support defense procurement, maintain donated equipment, and gather information on its performance on the battlefield. This aligns with recent announcements by the United States and France to train personnel and gather real-time field feedback. France, for instance, has announced plans to train and equip brigades. The Swedish government has tasked the Defense Materiel Administration (FMV) with exploring the possibility of establishing a presence in Ukraine from the fall of 2024. This decision could lead to several Swedish officials being stationed in Ukraine to provide on-site support for defense procurement, as announced by Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson on August 15, according to Försvarssektorn Nyheter (FSN).
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Ukrainian soldiers standing next to the Swedish 155 mm Archer self-propelled howitzer. November 2023. (Picture source: Ukraine’s 45th Artillery Brigade)

While Ukraine receives military support in terms of equipment and training, most of its allies, including the United States and Germany, have been hesitant to deploy soldiers on field, primarily due to fears of escalating the conflict and triggering a direct confrontation with Russia.

According to a swedish govermnement statement in local media, the strengthening of FMV's role is part of the government's efforts to intensify its support for Ukraine. Swedish officials, who are expected to work from the Swedish Embassy in Kyiv, will focus on maintenance, spare parts, and logistics for the military aid already provided by Sweden.

Sweden's military aid to Ukraine so far includes 16 aid programs totaling approximately $4.166 billion. The donated equipment includes the Stridsfordon 90 (Combat Vehicle 90), the Stridsvagn 122 (Leopard 2 tank), Archer artillery systems, and various types of anti-tank missiles and advanced munitions. The new FMV mission will involve analyzing and learning from the performance of this equipment in combat. To summarize, Sweden has provided significant aid to Ukraine through several military packages. The delivered items include air defense systems, ammunition, winter equipment for soldiers, as well as anti-tank weapons. In 2024, Sweden announced its largest support package yet, amounting to 13.3 billion Swedish kronor (approximately 1.16 billion euros), which includes advanced military equipment, armored vehicles, and artillery systems.

The role of FMV is also tied to the fact that Sweden's defense material resources are becoming limited. The Defense Materiel Administration has emphasized that Sweden must now shift from donating surplus equipment to producing new equipment specifically intended for Ukraine, which undoubtedly introduces a new dynamic in support. Not only will new equipment be delivered, but personnel will also be deployed to maintain and secure these supplies.

The desire to gather intelligence on the nature of the conflict is linked to a significant problem today. The war in Ukraine and combat actions are highly publicized through videos broadcast to the general public; however, these videos are not necessarily exploitable because many elements necessary for technological monitoring and doctrinal anticipation are missing, such as the notion of duration, the concept of force employment doctrine, and the idea of installation and rotations. Only on-site military intelligence can address these issues. Moreover, these videos pass through the cognitive filters of those who shoot, broadcast, and share them, making it difficult to find their original sources. In this regard, the advantage of communication is proving less useful than expected. Therefore, the Swedes are considering assigning the mission of technologically informing the administrations about the results of the equipment donated to Ukraine to develop solutions to potential technical problems.