Russia uses captured M113 vehicles in assault

Russian forces used captured M113 armored personnel carriers during an assault on Ukrainian positions near the village of Hryshyne in eastern Ukraine, according to reporting by Militarnyi.

The incident occurred amid dense fog, which allowed Russian troops to advance largely undetected. According to the report, two M113 armored personnel carriers and one infantry fighting vehicle moved through the line of contact and entered Hryshyne without being identified by Ukrainian forces during the initial phase of the operation.

Operators from the “Panama” unit of Ukraine’s 1st Separate Territorial Defense Brigade, named after Ivan Bohun, engaged the колон with unmanned aerial systems. The unit destroyed one of the M113 vehicles, while a second M113 managed to withdraw from the area. The infantry fighting vehicle was also hit during the engagement.

Ukrainian forces used drones to strike Russian dismounted troops during the assault. According to the report, five Russian infantry soldiers were killed as a result of drone strikes carried out during and after the engagement.

The use of captured M113 vehicles highlights the fluid nature of equipment losses and reuse on the battlefield. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has received several hundred tracked armored personnel carriers of various M113 variants from Western partners. These vehicles are used by multiple units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces and have been deployed directly in combat operations.

The M113 is a tracked armored personnel carrier originally developed in the United States and widely exported. In Ukrainian service, the vehicle has been used for troop transport, logistics, and medical evacuation, often operating close to the front line under contested conditions.

Due to the intensity of the fighting and the widespread use of drones by both sides, armored vehicles are frequently damaged or disabled. Ukrainian units are not always able to recover even lightly damaged vehicles from forward positions, creating opportunities for Russian forces to capture usable equipment.

According to visually confirmed data compiled by the Oryx OSINT group, Ukraine has lost more than 500 M113 armored vehicles of various configurations since the beginning of the war. The losses include vehicles destroyed, damaged, abandoned, or captured.

Russian use of captured Western-supplied equipment has been documented in previous engagements, though such vehicles are typically employed in limited numbers due to maintenance challenges, spare parts shortages, and compatibility issues.