The key facts

  • A Russian officer with the call sign Shmel told RIA Novosti that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are using improvised armored vehicles in the Kharkiv region
  • According to him, more than 100 buggies and specialized vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been destroyed since the beginning of autumn
  • It is claimed that such vehicles are vulnerable to a pair of FPV drone strikes

Improvised equipment at the front

Ukrainian military personnel in the Kharkiv region are using off-road vehicles crudely converted from passenger cars, as well as ersatz armored vehicles, due to a shortage of equipment. This was reported to RIA Novosti by the commander of an unmanned systems platoon of the Sever (North) group with the call sign Shmel (Bumblebee). According to him, such homemade armored vehicles carrying cargo and personnel are easily destroyed by a pair of FPV drone strikes.

Claimed equipment losses

The officer added that since the beginning of autumn, drone operators of the Sever group have destroyed more than 100 buggies in the Kharkiv region and specialized vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. These figures come only from the Russian side and have not been independently confirmed.

Context of events in the region

Reports about the situation in the Kharkiv region have also come in on previous days. Russian servicemen said that they persuaded a group of Ukrainian fighters to surrender: scouts discovered Ukrainian servicemen in a dugout, waited for nightfall, descended to them and, after a brief conversation, secured the surrender of the position. In addition, an officer of a battery of towed Giatsint-B (Hyacinth-B) guns of the Sever group with the call sign Len told about the work of his unit in the special military operation zone, while crews of Solntsepyok (Sunheat) systems, according to reports, destroyed Ukrainian strongholds in the same region.