For all the anti-Russian rhetoric, pro-government armed formations and the Armed Forces of Ukraine are quite actively using vehicles assembled in the former USSR and even in Russia in combat. This review contains photographic evidence of the "shushpanzerisation" of equipment, mainly taken from the warehouses of conservation and long-term storage of the arsenal of the USSR. Let's start with shishigi.
GAZ-66
Seriously armored domestic all-terrain vehicle with installed wind and side armored glass. By the accuracy of the execution and color (pixel camouflage), it can be assumed that the car was booked in the factory. For example, at the Nikolaev diesel locomotive repair plant. The use of armored steel in the structure is not excluded.
Another GAZ-66 with a "pixel" color, for some reason in a desert version. There is no glazing reservation, but there is a blackout of the headlights. In the combat position, the glass is closed with flaps. Obviously, the car was built with funds raised by the compassionate residents of the city of Nizhyn in the Chernihiv region.
"Shishiga", built on the money of those who are not indifferent from the regional center of Zhmerynka, in the Vinnitsa region. Everyone can make their own contribution to the construction of the next generation "Zhmerinka". The tuning was done in the factory, but the Ukrainian engineers once again left the doors and windows unprotected.
Agree, some of the Ukrainian homemade products have an indescribable style. Soviet designers endowed the GAZ-66 with such charisma, which cannot be spoiled.
GAZ-66 exclusively for frontal attacks. An excellent target for an ATGM?
ZIL-130/131
It is quite difficult to book bonnet equipment, so they decided to ZIL-131 (assembled, by the way, in Moscow), to arm the DShK and ZSU at once. It turned out to be a brutal gantruck, painted in the workshop in winter camouflage. However, at the combat post, the car acquired its usual summer color.
"Black cuttlefish" and its sad end. A combat loss or a vehicle "has exhausted its resource," history is silent.
"Ginger", so named, apparently because of the abundance of rust. The car was retrofitted in artisanal conditions. An interesting lathing on the body to accommodate sandbags.
ZIL-131 under the pseudonym T-150. We do not know whether it was named after the experimental tank or not, but the amount of modifications taken from storage by the ZIL is very scanty.
A lot of unmasking color, frankly spoiling the appearance of the car, casts doubt on the adequacy of people operating the car. Gantrak clearly has to work in a combat zone - for this he has a DShK and several body armor along the sides.
The ZIL-131 vehicle is clearly intended to break up demonstrations. Abundant lattice protection will only protect against stones. Dnipropetrovsk Nikopol to the front.
KAMAZ
And again KAMAZ. These vehicles, perhaps, became the most massive among the handicraft armored trucks of the ATO zone. The prevalence of the machine, and maintainability, and the availability of spare parts also affect. By the beginning of the military operation in the South-East of Ukraine, it was KAMAZ trucks of various modifications that were the most "combat-ready" transport units. Many vehicles were requisitioned from the population and mobilized for numerous volunteer battalions. However, KAMAZ trucks are also in demand among the militias.
KAMAZ of Russian production of the Mustang family. The car most likely belongs to the LPNR divisions.
A sample of equipment operating the high carrying capacity of KAMAZ vehicles. It was decided to book the forehead in some models with leaf springs.
Dump truck KAMAZ for the Airborne Forces of the Ukrainian army. Obviously factory execution.
Another "shushpanzer-KAMAZ", assembled from scraps and outright scrap metal.
Neat Novovolynsky (a city in the Volyn region of Ukraine) based on KAMAZ, already assembled in Russian Naberezhnye Chelny. Reservation of the cabin is hidden by a strictly specialized factory, the glass is designed for at least an AKM bullet. It may be a rework of a cash-in-transit vehicle, but the body is devoid of loopholes and, obviously, booking.
Monstrous ashlar with reclining steel panels in the frontal projection. Attention is drawn to the excessively high ceiling of the body.
KAMAZ-4310 with well-booked side projections of the cockpit.
Touching and cute …
URAL
The all-wheel drive Ural-4320 from Miass also became a hero of the ATO in Ukraine. It rarely becomes an object of factory tuning, but artisanal craftsmen make true crocodiles out of a car.
One of the typical pictures of the march of the military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the initial period of the war - the cars are dragged on a rigid coupling by the disabled comrades. The tractor is equipped with a minimum set of corner armor.
One of the reasons why the Urals are respected in the army is the relatively high resistance to mine explosions in the area of the front bridge. The energy of the explosion goes to the engine compartment, leaving chances for the driver and passengers. KAMAZ is deprived of such a bonus. In the photo, a gantruck with a heavily armored muzzle surrounded by soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in NATO uniforms.
DShK and PKM are installed in the back of this Urals in "clay" camouflage. Interestingly, in one of the photos in the combat position, the glass in the driver's door in the raised position fixes a light bulletproof vest. Will this bullet-proof vest turn the driver's head with a burst of AKM?
The Ural, altered beyond recognition, with broken windshields and already armored ones.
Comments are superfluous. It is clear where the apparatus fought and who "modernized" it.
Ural with bars for psychological calmness and steel eyebrows forming a frame for stacking sandbags.
A sample of a completely "collective farm" booking. The barricades on the windshield opening are impressive.
A rare example of factory "engineering" of the Urals. The vehicle belongs to the military intelligence of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Light version of the Uralov frontal projection booking.
The sad ending of the attack on the gantruck of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In the next part, we will talk about the transformation of UAZs, NATO equipment into "shushpantsy" and about completely exotic specimens of the Ukrainian engineering genius of the ATO era.
