UTV or a utility terrain vehicle is a very useful little machine. Farmers love them because they help get around large areas of land easily and quickly, even when carrying some cargo. Some other professionals use them like mobile tool boxes. You can also see UTVs working at golf fields. Or in Russian forces rushing through dangerous minefields.
Elimination of one of the Russian “golf cart”. (Screenshot)
The defenders of Ukraine are actively destroying Russian military equipment. They are burning all tanks, armoured personnel transporters, infantry fighting vehicles and other machines that Russians dare to use on one of their large assaults. There is no denying that Russian forces are pushing through huge armoured losses in Ukraine. However, the situation might actually be worse than people think, because Russians are now using simple Chinese UTVs to traverse deadly Ukrainian minefields.
Russia must have recently acquired a large number of Chinese DesertCross UTVs. These tiny little vehicles are quite capable off-road, which would be useful on a farm or in some plantation. However, Russians use them for their relentless attacks against the Ukrainian positions.
Source- https://t.co/FXkHPs27oR In recent weeks, Russian forces have heavily utilized these unarmored buggies near the front. pic.twitter.com/tZMQowtKTt
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 9, 2024
Dmytro Likhovoy, a representative of the Tavria defence forces in Southern Ukraine, noted that the Russians are still trying to bypass minefields and barricades near the village of Robotino in the Zaporizhia region. For this, they use the lightest vehicles and some of them resemble golf carts. The DesertCross UTV is probably what he is talking about.
Likhovoy said that Russian golf carts are exploding all over the place. Dozens of such machines have already disappeared in Southern Ukraine. They have absolutely no armour, they are not that powerful and they are not that fast. Russian golf carts may be small, but they still detonate anti-tank mines. Russian soldiers know this, but hope to slip between the mines. FPV drones enjoy these unarmoured targets too.
DesertCross vehicle. Image credit: DefenseExpress / Photo from open sources
Ukrainians see this as a sign that the Russian reserves of armoured vehicles are slowly coming to an end. It is obvious that they are using UTVs because they are cheap and available. However, for the purposes of the truth it needs to be said that the defenders of Ukraine have used UTVs in military duties too.
These small vehicles were used for quick patrols. Some of them were armed with anti-tank missiles, machine guns and have been referred to as “Mad Max” buggies. The difference is that Ukraine did not start this war and their military command is not sending unarmoured UTVs into Russian minefields.
It is unlikely that Russia is actually out of armoured vehicles. However, things break down and minefields are costing a lot of equipment. That is probably why Russians are now using UTVs to launch ill-fated attacks against Ukrainian positions.
Written by Povilas M.
Source: Armyinform.com.ua