Russian military turns to school buses amid equipment shortages
The Russian Federation's military has long been facing a shortage of equipment to transport soldiers to the front. Until recently, scooters and motorcycles have been used for this purpose, but now, according to Forbes, the military has turned to using a school bus.
Russian occupying forces in Ukraine, struggling with a shortage of military equipment, are increasingly turning to civilian vehicles. Among these are Chinese golf carts, Belarusian motorcycles, Lada cars, and school buses, with the latter drawing attention from Forbes. The vehicle was spotted during battles in the Donetsk region.
Civilian vehicles on the front
Ukrainian soldiers noticed an unusual piece of equipment among the Russian armed forces at the front. It is a yellow school bus in the Donetsk region. The Russians used it to transport soldiers during the fighting; however, during its passage on the front line, the vehicle broke down or became stuck in soft ground. Consequently, it immediately became a target for a kamikaze drone.
"The most recent addition to this arsenal of ex-civilian vehicles, many of them up-armoured with anti-drone cages, might be the most comical," writes Forbes about the school bus on the front. Experts point out that such vehicles are very ineffective at the front line, as they have incomparably worse armour than combat vehicles. "Civilian vehicles are better than walking but will obviously not provide any protection or fire support," the article reads.
The bus visible in the recording is most likely a 20-seater KAvZ-397620 built on the GAZ-33074 chassis. Its curb weight is approximately 5 tonnes, while the maximum speed is 90 km/h. The vehicle is powered by a ZMZ-513.10 engine with 125 horsepower. Production of this bus began in 1989.
Russian equipment losses
The Ukrainian agency Unian calculates Russian losses since the start of the war. Since the beginning of the full-scale conflict, Russia has lost 17,000 units of military equipment. The Russian defence industry, under sanctions, is unable to keep up with the production of new equipment, forcing the Kremlin to turn to vehicles from the Cold War era and, as shown in recordings and photos from the front, civilian vehicles of negligible usefulness during combat.
