Ukraine's Combat Buggies Go Where Heavily Armored Vehicles Cannot

In the shell-shattered landscapes which attacking Ukrainian troops must traverse, fast light and highly maneuverable "Mad Max" type vehicles can aid both assault and evacuation of wounded. JL 

Evalina Riabenko and Finbarr O'Reilly report in the New York Times:

The scene is reminiscent of a “Mad Max” film, but the stakes are higher than a Hollywood fantasy. Made from salvaged parts and welded metal, buggies are mostly used to evacuate wounded soldiers, but are also used in combat with mounted machine guns. Military and heavily armored vehicles can quickly get stuck when going off-road, or can be blocked when a road is ripped open by shelling. "These buggies don't need roads," making them useful to Ukrainian frontline troops fighting in the shell-shattered terrain of places like the Donbas region.

Clouds of dust follow the buggy tearing along a dirt track, its engine revving as it speeds up a steep hill then briefly catches air coming off the top of it.

The scene is reminiscent of a “Mad Max” film, but the stakes are higher than a Hollywood fantasy.

This is a combat vehicle for Ukraine’s armed forces, and Volodymyr Sadyk, 46, is testing its performance before sending it off to the front lines.

Made from salvaged parts and welded metal, Mr. Sadyk's buggies are mostly used to evacuate wounded soldiers, but are also used in combat with mounted machine guns, he said.

“Buggies can drive on any landscape,” making them useful to Ukrainian frontline troops fighting in the shell-shattered terrain of places like the Donbas region in Ukraine’s east, he said.

Military and heavily armored vehicles can quickly get stuck when going off-road, Mr. Sadyk said, or can be blocked when a road is ripped open by shelling.

“These buggies don’t need roads,” he said.

Mr. Sadyk and his mechanics test the buggies on deep sand, steep hills, dense trees and ditches. Building the vehicles was just a hobby before the war, but turned into a mission after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

They have produced more than 80 buggies since then, Mr. Sadyk said.

Four more were in production at a workshop in Ukraine’s far western Chernivtsi region on a recent afternoon. Inside the hangar-like space, sunlight filtered through the high roof as the sounds of clanking metal and buzz saws mingled with Ukrainian pop music coming from a small radio in the corner.

Sparks flew as a mechanic in a red helmet welded the exterior frame of one buggy and a colleague sanded the metal of another that had been flipped on its side.

Mr. Sadyk said his mechanics watch YouTube videos of buggy production in the United States, marveling at “how easy everything is there,” he said.

“But here,” he trailed off. “We fight for every engine.”

Donations pay for the vehicles, which cost $6,500 for a two-seater and $15,00 for a new model that can seat six to eight people. Each buggy takes a week to make.

That day, Mr. Sadyk said, two more buggies would be ready to be taken in the direction of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where fierce fighting is underway.