An online video has emerged that appears to show Russian soldiers riding a Chinese-made Desertcross 1000-3 “golf cart” as it’s blown up by an anti-tank mine.
The footage (warning: graphic content) has been shared by multiple social media channels, including NEXTA Live, an eastern European media outlet.
“Russian cosmonauts are training in the Zaporizhzhia direction,” the publication said on Telegram.
The Russian soldiers appeared to be riding a Beijing-manufactured Desertcross 1000-3 all-terrain vehicle, which resembles a golf cart. The Russian military has been using them in battle since last fall according to Militarnyi, a Ukrainian military media outlet.
OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP/Getty Images
Militarnyi says Russian troops in Ukraine already have 530 of the vehicles, and a contract is being drawn up to purchase 1,600 more.
“A Russian buggy with a landing party is blown up by an anti-tank mine in the Zaporizhzhia region,” X (formerly Twitter) user Ukrainian Front, a Ukrainian military blogger, said, sharing the graphic video.
Such footage has been a major part of the propaganda war between the opposing sides in the conflict in Ukraine, which began when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
Newsweek could not independently verify when or where the video was filmed, and has contacted Russia’s defense ministry for comment by email.
On Monday, the 60th Separate Mechanized Inhulets Brigade, a brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, released a video that appears to show Russian troops storming Ukrainian positions near Lyman, in the eastern Donetsk region, using Desertcross 1000-3 vehicles.
The brigade said it repulsed a “large-scale Russian attack,” which was carried out in three waves. The drone footage shows Ukraine’s forces targeting the vehicles from a distance.
“The Russians used tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, manpower, and even [Russian Defense Minister Sergei] Shoigu’s Chinese ‘golf carts,’ which he presented to [President Vladimir] Putin as a new development of his defense industry,” the brigade said.
“Everything that didn’t manage to escape now lies as scrap metal on Ukrainian soil. We will drive out the orcs, and the land will be clean and blooming again!” the brigade added.
According to Defense Express, a Ukrainian military publication, the Desertcross 1000-3 all-terrain vehicle can be used to carry out search and rescue operations, raids, patrols, reconnaissance missions and for transporting equipment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.