Russia sending broken-down trucks to Ukraine-based soldiers

Russia is sending broken fuel tankers to the front lines in Ukraine as they struggle to restock their dwindling supplies of military equipment. In footage released on social media, dozens of purportedly ‘new’ vehicles based on the Ural-375, which were built in the 20th century, can be seen being attended to by Russian engineers. A German journalist who shared the footage commented that ‘some of them are broken even before reaching Ukraine’. The footage further highlights the struggles that Russian forces are facing on the battlefield after sweeping Ukrainian counterassaults over the past two months have left Putin’s soldiers short on equipment, while reservists are being sent to the front lines with second-hand, malfunctioning weapons. Journalist Julian Röpcke shared the footage, alongside some screenshots of the fuel tankers, on his social media. The photos suggest the vehicles are, in fact, second-hand despite claims they were brand new. He captioned the video: ”New’ Russian fuel tankers, sent to Ukraine, are based on the Ural-375, built between 1960 and 1982. ‘Seems some of them are broken even before reaching Ukraine’.  Russian vehicles based on the Ural-375 appear to be broken on their way to Ukraine (Image: TWITTER ) Vladimir Putin announced the mobilisation of 300,000 civilians in September (Image: GETTY)Another social media user familiar with the equipment compared it to the Unimog 435, which is a fuel tanker built by Mercedes-Benz in the same period.  They suggested the fuel consumption of the Russian vehicle was more than twice the amount of the German model. They said: ‘Average consumption is 50 litres per 100 kilometres and increases when driving off-road and when the vehicle is loaded.  ‘A Unimog 435 from the same decade consumes between 17.5 and 20 litres per hundred kilometres.  Expensive fun even for Russia.’ READ MORE: Russian soldier loses it in leaked call as he slams ‘defective tanks’ [REVEAL]  AKM Russian assault rifle from the Soviet era have been reported on the frontlines (Image: GETTY)As Putin’s soldiers in Ukraine are reportedly already struggling with a lack of supplies, Russia’s problems appear to have been compounded by poorly-equipped reservists as they begin to enter the war zone. Many of the mobilised soldiers have been armed with ‘barely usable’ weapons, according to British defence analysts, dating back to the 1950s. Open source images suggest that the troops have been issued rifles of a type which could be over 60 years old, such as the AKM assault rifle, which uses ammunition incompatible with the current weapons used by fighting Russian soldiers. The intelligence update, posted by the MoD on Twitter, said: ‘In September, Russian officers were concerned that some recently mobilised reservists were arriving in Ukraine without weapons.DON’T MISS: Russia soldiers slams Kremlin over plastic war equipment [REPORT] Russia on brink as army collapse laid bare in humiliating clip [REVEAL] Putin making Ukraine ‘less inhabitable’ to spark migrant crisis [REPORT]  Poland has been increasing border protection in fear of escalation (Image: GETTY)’Open source images suggest that those rifles which have been issued to mobilised reservists are typically AKMs, a weapon first introduced in 1959. Many are likely in barely usable condition following poor storage.’The integration of reservists with contract soldiers and combat veterans in Ukraine will mean Russian logisticians will have to push two types of small arms ammunition to frontline positions, rather than one. This will likely further complicate Russia’s already strained logistics systems.’ Fears that they will have to enter the warzone poorly equipped have led thousands of Russians to flee the country, a problem that has become so significant that neighbouring Poland announced on Wednesday it was erecting fences across its shared border. Polish soldiers began laying razor wire Wednesday along Poland’s border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad after the government ordered the construction of a barrier to prevent what it fears could become another migration crisis.READ NEXT: Putin rattled as Russian billionaires give up citizenshipTurkey’s Erdogan forces Putin into major U-turn after Black Sea attackWagner’s Prigozhin ‘getting ambitious’ as he exploits Ukraine falloutRussia hits ‘new level of cruelty’ as Putin unleashes suicide dronesWashington increasingly concerned over Putin using nuclear weapon