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A Rare Version of the MT-LB With a Dshk Machine Gun Was Used While Liberating Kherson

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Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine train to use the rare MT-LB-AT with a DShK machine gun to liberate Kherson Oblast, November 21, 2022 / Photo credits: ArmyInform
Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine train to use the rare MT-LB-AT with a DShK machine gun to liberate Kherson Oblast, November 21, 2022 / Photo credits: ArmyInform

The MTLB armored vehicles in a rare trim had been in storage bases and found their place in the battles of 2022

In the report, ArmyInform presented how soldiers of the 36th Marine Brigade in cooperation with other units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine conducted rehearsal of Kherson Oblast liberation. Marines trained to use Turkish-made Kirpi armored vehicles to conduct assault operations, and interact with intelligence units to plan actions against the enemy.

Tank and mechanized units of the Ukrainian Ground Forces had to support the actions of the marines, according to the training conditions. And here we can notice that Ukraine’s fighters used rare MT-LB-AT armored vehicles with an open turret armed with a DShK machine gun.

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A Rare Version of the MT-LB With a Dshk Machine Gun Was Used While Liberating Kherson, Defense Express, war in Ukraine, Russian-Ukrainian war
Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine train to use the rare MT-LB-AT with a DShK machine gun to liberate Kherson Oblast, November 21, 2022 / Photo credits: ArmyInform

The history of such rare vehicles goes back to 2015, when the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command experimentally decided to strengthen the armament of the existing MT-LB’s that had been removed from storage. The final choice then settled on the use of open rotary platforms with DShK machine guns and armor protection of the machine gunner (although the option of installing the BTR-60 turret was initially considered).

A Rare Version of the MT-LB With a Dshk Machine Gun Was Used While Liberating Kherson, Defense Express, war in Ukraine, Russian-Ukrainian war
Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine train to use the rare MT-LB-AT with a DShK machine gun to liberate Kherson Oblast, November 21, 2022 / Photo credits: ArmyInform

According to some data, at least a battalion set of the MT-LB-AT was modernized, which were sent to the 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade. While the transition to the BMP-1 IFVs, such MTLBs went to storage bases. And in the 2018’s footage we can already see these MT-LB-AT vehicles had already been at storage bases. After that the first visual mentions of the MT-LB-AT in Ukraine’s service appeared only in November 2022, in a report from ArmyInform and one of the articles by Tysk National portal.

A Rare Version of the MT-LB With a Dshk Machine Gun Was Used While Liberating Kherson, Defense Express, war in Ukraine, Russian-Ukrainian war
MT-LB-AT vehicles with a DShK machine gun in storage / Open source photo
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