Russian troops stormed Ukrainian positions near Lyman, in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, using Chinese-made Desertcross 1000-3 "golf carts", a video released by Kyiv's military appears to show.
The footage was released on Monday by the 60th Separate Mechanized Inhulets Brigade, a brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. It said it repulsed a "large-scale Russian attack," which was carried out in three waves. The drone footage shows Ukraine's forces targeting the vehicles from a distance. Newsweek couldn't independently verify when or when the footage was filmed, and has emailed Russia's Defense Ministry for comment.
Repelling a large-scale russian assault by soldiers of the 60th Brigade in the Lyman direction.
— ✙ Albina Fella ✙ 🇺🇦🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪🇵🇱🇺🇸🇨🇦🇦🇺 (@albafella1) March 4, 2024
The russians attacked in three waves. They used tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, manpower, and even Shoigu’s Chinese “golf carts,” which he presented to Putin as a new development of… pic.twitter.com/PxfIjfBY0I
Fighting has intensified in Donetsk as Moscow seeks to take full control of the region its forces partially occupy. Kyiv said in February its forces had withdrawn from the small city of Avdiivka after months of fighting. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the decision was made to save the lives of his soldiers, and Russia has since said it has taken full control of the area, marking Moscow's biggest victory for months.
"The Russians used tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, manpower, and even [Russian Defense Minister Sergei] Shoigu's Chinese 'golf carts,' which he presented to [President Vladimir] Putin as a new development of his defense industry," the brigade said.
"Everything that didn't manage to escape now lies as scrap metal on Ukrainian soil. We will drive out the orcs, and the land will be clean and blooming again!" the brigade added.
Militarnyi, a Ukrainian military media outlet, reported that Russia's military has been using the Beijing-manufactured Desertcross 1000-3 all-terrain vehicles since last fall. It said that, while Russia's military has been using them on the front lines for a long time, Kyiv's video marks the first documented case of their participation in assault operations.
Militarnyi added that Russian troops in Ukraine already have 530 of the vehicles, and contract is being drawn up to purchase 1,600 more.
Casualty numbers and equipment losses have been high for both Ukraine and Russia, especially around the Donetsk region.
On February 28, open-source intelligence X (formerly Twitter) account OSINTtechnical published footage that appears to show two Russian armored personnel carriers (APCs) being simultaneously blown up after hitting landmines.
The account said it showed a pair of advancing Russian BTR-80s simultaneously running into mines in the village of Stepove, in the Donetsk region.
Kyiv's military said in an update on Monday that Moscow has so far lost 12,660 APCs since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The figures were provided by the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, which posts estimates of Russia's troop and equipment losses daily. Newsweek couldn't independently verify Ukraine's figures.
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Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
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