The 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade’s mission is to restore ‘trophies,’ such as T-72s and infantry vehicles, so Ukraine’s forces can turn them against their former Russian owners
The Leopards are coming. So are the Challengers and the Abrams. But the NATO-standard main battle tanks from Germany, Britain, the United States, Canada and elsewhere may not arrive in time to allow Ukrainian forces to punch a hole in the Russian offensive expected in the next month or two.
The maintenance battalion of the 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade, which is in charge of the covert operation, refers to the captured Russian armour as “trophies” or “lend-lease” vehicles, the latter a playful reference to the Second World War program that saw the U.S. supply Britain and the Soviet Union with convoys of military aid.
Shortly after The Globe arrived, two of the mechanics smiled as they managed to start the 15.8-litre diesel engine of a Soviet-era BMP-1 tracked infantry fighting vehicle, a fairly light machine armed with a 73mm gun and designed to transport eight soldiers into combat. The engine spewed clouds of diesel fumes, enveloping the two men in what looked like thick fog.
Ruslan Saichuk, left, helps with an ignition test. He left his chicken farm to help repair tanks like these so they can join the Ukrainian war effort.The 30-mm rounds in one of the combat vehicles. Russian and Ukrainian forces have so far been fighting with tanks from the same family of Soviet-era models.
Mechanics at the warehouse said the Soviet-era equipment, like the BMP-1, is hard to fix. Many were built in the 1970s and eighties, so spare parts often cannot be found. Some of those machines are used as parts “donors” for the equipment that has a reasonable chance of being put back into action.
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