Engineers at Soniktrans in Khabarovsk have created five models of a light all-terrain vehicle for use in the military zone. Footage filmed on Thursday shows mechanics building and testing the buggies at a training ground.
The ‘Erofei’ buggy, named after the famous Russian pioneer Erofei Khabarov, is capable of speeds of up to 150 kilometres per hour.
“It should be a light and manoeuvrable vehicle. It should be able to go across areas and distances that it is designed for, it has to carry the weapons that it needs, it has to carry ammunition, it has to have good power and good speed,” said engineer Alexandr Yefimenko.
The mechanics explained that the buggies are handcrafted, and each vehicle is one of a kind. The buggies have already demonstrated their capabilities on the ground.
“Of course, we put our hearts in every vehicle. Furthermore, there was a lot of adrenaline and excitement in the body, and in the soul when we saw the first video from the testing ground yesterday,” said mechanic-adjuster Arkady Makarov.
Soniktrans plans to begin mass-producing the vehicles once they have been fully tested and refinements have been made to their design. The buggies will be shipped to Russian Armed Forces units involved in the special military operation.
Moscow launched a military offensive in Ukraine in late February after recognising the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), claiming that Kiev had failed to guarantee their special status under the 2014 Minsk Agreements, and urging Ukraine to declare itself officially neutral and give assurances that it would never join NATO.
Kiev denounced the Russian action as an invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed martial law throughout the country, announcing a general mobilisation, while the EU and the US imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow.