BTR clash in Donetsk: Russian armoured vehicles toppled by drones
Currently, the heaviest fighting is taking place in the Donetsk region in the Pokrovsk direction, where quite interesting incidents are occurring. One of them involves Russian BTRs ramming into each other while fleeing from FPV drones. We explain how this happened and what scared the Russians so much.
In the video below, you can see a fleeing BTR armoured personnel carrier deploying a smoke screen, which collided with another BTR, likely from a separate assault group. Subsequently, both vehicles involved in the collision and a third one in the background were hit by a swarm of Ukrainian FPV drones armed with PG-7VL grenades capable of penetrating even 50 centimetres of armour steel. These drones belong to the 68th Jaeger Brigade.
BTR-82A armoured personnel carriers — The basic taxi of Russian infantry
The video shows three BTR-family carriers, at least two of which are the latest BTR-82A models with an unmanned turret featuring a 30 mm 2A72 autocannon. This is a formidable weapon, but the Russians encounter significant issues with barrel or ammunition quality. At one of the official shows, they had trouble hitting an old M113 from 100 meters away.
This BTR variant has been produced since 2011 and represents a major modernisation of the BTR-80 carrier, as the BTR-90 turned out to be too complicated and too expensive. Besides the mentioned turret with stronger armament, the BTR-82A features a more powerful engine with 300 brake horsepower (bhp).
Meanwhile, the armour of this eight-wheeled armoured personnel carrier is only made of armour steel (below 1 centimetre) and theoretically should be lined with Kevlar on the inside. However, we did not notice any lining while inspecting the wreck during the MSPO 2023 fair. The armour only protects artillery fragments and small arms fire. For example, a FN FAL rifle loaded with armour-piercing ammunition with a tungsten core will penetrate it without any problem at close range.
The BTR-82A has a three-member crew and can carry seven infantry soldiers. However, it is worth noting that due to the losses suffered by the Russians, BTR-82A carriers are becoming increasingly rare and are being replaced by older solutions such as the BTR-60/70 or even the BTR-50. However, this is not the end, as the Russians may even use motorcycles for assaults, as well as Chinese golf carts and other civilian vehicles.
