From the COH2 official forums:
"The unit can be deployed once per game at no resource cost
Once deployed, all resource income stops. This will persist regardless of whether or not the unit is killed.
The strength of the unit is similar to 2 tigers and has additional weapon range and sight.
We will be talking about this unit and the tree its in more during the broadcast on Tuesday." - Stefan Haines
Link
Edit: For this occasion, I have added an image to my signature to represent how most soviets will feel upon seeing this new unit.