Captured armored vehicles taken from the front line are finding a second life — this time fighting on the Russian side. A driver-mechanic from the repair unit of the «Southern» military group, known by the callsign Kilya, told RIA Novosti that his team restores damaged enemy hardware and returns it to combat after repairs.

He explained that the crews evacuate various models, from American-made M113 armored personnel carriers to other Western vehicles. According to the serviceman, any machine that can be salvaged is repaired and sent back into battle — only now against its former operators.

Kilya noted that during the recovery of damaged vehicles, soldiers often come across leftover ammunition. Around destroyed machines, they frequently find boxes of cartridges and shells, which are also collected and reused.

The repair process, he added, often resembles assembling a «constructor»: one functional vehicle can be built from several wrecks. Mechanics pick out intact parts from different hulls, combine them, and put the machine back on its tracks before returning it to the front.