Invaders lost unusual APCs near Avdiivka
12 October, 2023 Modernized armored personnel carriers of the 39th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation near Avdiivka, October 2023 Russian invaders lost improvised ersatz armored personnel carriers during the offensive in the Donetsk region. Photos of the damaged equipment were posted on social media.
The footage captured by the reconnaissance drone shows Soviet MT-LB tracked armored fighting vehicles modernized for infantry transportation. The Russians lost the vehicles when they detonated on anti-tank mines during the recent offensive in the Novomykhailivka area. The photo captures the craters from the detonation behind the vehicles.
Modernized armored personnel carriers of the 39th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces near Avdiivka, October 23
The armored vehicles of the world's second military were identified as belonging to the 39th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces.
Archival photos show one of the lost vehicles. The roof was cut out, and the space in the cargo compartment was enlarged for easy transportation of infantry. In addition, a turret with a large-caliber Kord machine gun and a PKM machine gun was mounted.
It is likely that later, due to the high risk of dropping munition being dropped from drones, a new roof was welded onto the modernized ersatz armored personnel carriers. The conversion of available vehicles for infantry transportation and their use in assaults may signal the difficult situation with military equipment in the Russian military.
Read more on the modernization of such equipment in the article "MT-LB: combat chariot of the Russo-Ukrainian war"
Intensification of the invader activity in the Donetsk region
The invaders' attempt to advance in the Novomykhailivka area coincides with a number of other offensives by the Russian Armed Forces in the areas of Avdiyivka, Tonenke, Keramika, and Pervomaiske in the Donetsk region. The attacks are accompanied by highly concentrated and sustained artillery strikes, as well as the use of airstrikes.
Over the past two days, Militarnyi has reported on the destruction of advancing columns of Russian Armed Forces armored vehicles by Omega group and soldiers of the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade.
The purpose of the invaders' failed offensive was to probably draw away the Ukrainian Armed Forces and advance in the area of Krasnohorivka to the rear of the Avdiyivka group of troops to create an operational encirclement.