The electric cars were not affected by the recent remote shutdown of a different vehicle, Ramzan Kadyrov has claimed
Russia has sent two more Tesla Cybertrucks to the combat zone in the Ukraine conflict, Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Republic of Chechnya, wrote on Telegram on Friday. He also published a video showing the two electric vehicles.
The post came just a day after Kadyrov chastised Tesla CEO Elon Musk for supposedly remotely deactivating a Cybertruck the Chechen leader had demonstrated in August. “What Elon Musk did was unbecoming [of him],” Kadyrov wrote in a post on Thursday. Musk himself did not comment on the development.
Friday’s video shows what appear to be two Cybertrucks with machine guns installed in their cargo beds and manned by people wearing camouflage fatigues and military gear. The vehicles can be seen moving along a dirt road through a wooded area while accompanied by two off-road vehicles. After that, they take up a position on a small hill and open fire at a drone.
“The Western equipment is performing excellently… against the Western Ukrainian NATO [fighters],” Kadyrov wrote in a post accompanying the video. “Mobility, convenience, maneuverability: those qualities are in high demand,” he said, adding that “one could not ask for a better advertisement for Cybertruck. We definitely know how to use them.”
The Tesla Cybertruck is a highly stylized electric vehicle with an extra-durable exterior – although it was never designed for military use – and is available at over $200,000. The Chechen leader also stated that the two vehicles were not affected by the remote shutdown that he alleged was performed on the other Cybertruck.
Last month, Kadyrov published a video of himself driving a Cybertruck around the city of Grozny. Later, he said that it had been sent to the front before being pulled back due to allegedly being shut down by Musk. The Chechen leader also referred to that particular car as being a gift from the Tesla CEO, prompting Musk to deny he had donated anything to a “Russian general.”
In his post on Friday, Kadyrov did not elaborate on the origins of the two Cybertrucks shown in the clip. Earlier, he also thanked the US entrepreneur for other products that “help us a lot,” including the Starlink satellite internet system.
However, Starlink, which has been extensively used by Ukrainian forces throughout the conflict, reportedly does not work in Russia. Musk himself said earlier that such geographic limitations prevent Kiev from using it for drone strikes deep into Russian territory.
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