Russian Troops Start Using Belarus-made Trucks

9 September, 2024 MAZ-5316 truck of Belarusian production in the Luhansk region. Source: X/@tiamat007 Russian occupation forces are using trucks manufactured by the Minsk Automobile Plant.

The photos were posted by user Yegor Letov on his X-account. The trucks, including a Belarusian MAZ-5316, were reportedly spotted in the Luhansk region, between Luhansk and Stanytsia. The truck is covered with an anti-drone "grill" in the upper projection along the entire length of the cab, and the "grill" and body are covered with a camouflage net.

It is worth noting that although Belarusian and Ukrainian MAZs are almost identical, the Ukrainian trucks are produced locally under the name Bogdan, and have a different sign.

Bogdan-63172 heavy-duty trucks handed over in October 2019. Photo credits: Bogdan Corporation

At the end of August, Militarnyi reported that the 21st Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Russian acronym 21st NII VAT MoD RF) was testing MAZ-631705. It' remains unclear for what purpose the Belarusian product was tested, since after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation abandoned the products of the Minsk Automobile Plant in favor of its own manufacturers.

The only platform used in the Russian army of Belarusian production is the products of the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant, and MZKT-7930 is a platform for such products as the Iskander SRMB.

MAZ-631705 truck during testing in the Russian Federation. Photo: Ruslan Guk

The need to purchase Belarusian-made trucks possibly arose because of heavy losses of Russian URALs and KAMAZs.

A damaged KamAZ truck of the Russian military. Photo credits: 110th Territorial Defense Brigade

Data from the Oryx OSINT service indicates that during the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the Russians lost more than 1,500 KAMAZ and URAL trucks of various modifications.

It can be assumed that local producers cannot meet the needs of the Russian military, therefore, Russia has to buy trucks made in Belarus.

Thus, MAZ trucks can be a temporary solution to meet the needs of the Russian army.