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There is photographic evidence that Russian forces (not merely "DPR" etc.) are actively using GAZ-51s in Ukraine. GAZ-51 has been captured from predominantly Russian forces in North East Ukraine. Perhaps the tense of this article should be corrected to reflect the operational status of this WW2 vehicle in the Russian army. Allenc28 (talk) 04:47, 11 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
First of all: The GAZ-51 is not a WW2 vehicle. It's mass production started in 1946 and the army did the compliance tests in the same year, after which it was introduced. It has not taken part in any combats of WW2, as much as we know today.
Second one: This is most likely not a simple transport truck, as the posting on twitter states. Soviet transport trucks from this era perferable have all wheel drive (which was avalibe with the GAZ-63 at the same time) and universal flatbeds built for transporting people and equipment. The closed KUNG box body indicates some form of special equipment such as radio stations, workshops, etc. Trucks with special bodies usually have a longer service life than flatbed vehicles.
Third: The truck may have been built as late as the 1970s. That would mean a deployment time of 50 years - which is unusual, but not completely outlandish. The German Bundeswehr is currently selling their transport trucks from the 1970s (development in the early 1960s). See [1].
And finally: Twitter is not a valid source. See Wikipedia:Reliable sources#User-generated content. The photo also makes no statements as to whether it is a vehicle that is regularly in service, or whether it was confiscated somewhere during the fighting, for example, and then used by the Russian side. I don't think the picture is significant enough to draw any conclusions about the regular equipment of the Russian troops.
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