Incidents in Donetsk: Russian BTRs collide fleeing drone attacks
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 armored personnel carrier deploying a smoke screen, which collides with another BTR, most likely from another assault group. Subsequently, both vehicles involved in the collision, along with a third one in the background, were hit by a swarm of Ukrainian FPV drones carrying PG-7VL grenades capable of penetrating up to 20 inches of armor steel. These drones belonged to the 68th Jager Brigade.
BTR-82A armored 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 equipped with an unmanned turret with a 30 mm 2A72 autocannon. This is a formidable weapon, but the Russians have significant barrel or ammunition quality issues. In one of the official shows, they had trouble hitting an old M113 from 330 feet away.
This BTR variant has been produced since 2011 and represents a major modernization of the BTR-80 carrier, as the BTR-90 turned out to be too complicated and expensive. Besides the mentioned turret with stronger armament, the BTR-82A features a more powerful 300 hp engine.
However, the armor of this eight-wheeled armored personnel carrier is only made of armor steel (less than 0.4 inches) and theoretically should be lined with Kevlar on the inside. However, we did not notice any lining while inspecting a wreck during the MSPO 2023 fair. The armor provides protection only against artillery fragments and small arms fire. For instance, a FN FAL rifle loaded with armor-piercing ammunition with a tungsten core can 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 BTR-60/70 or even BTR-50. But this is not the end. The Russians may also use motorcycles for assaults as well as Chinese golf carts and other civilian vehicles.
