Russia could be preparing to widely use motorbikes in front-line assaults in the next few months in a bid to dodge Ukrainian drones targeting armored vehicles, according to a new analysis.
Why It Matters
Information coming from the front lines has long suggested Russia is using civilian vehicles in assaults on Ukrainian positions, including motorbikes and golf buggies.
Large—and often slow—armored vehicles and tanks are easier targets for the hundreds of drones buzzing around close to the hotspots of battle each day.
What To Know
Russia is likely gearing up to “systematically integrate motorcycle usage” into its attacks along the Ukrainian battlefront for the summer and into the fall, the U.S.-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which tracks daily changes to the frontline, said in its latest analysis.
Russia’s Defense Ministry published a brief clip on Saturday it said showed paratroopers at a training ground learning to “seize strongholds on cross-country motorbikes.”
The soldiers were grouped in pairs and threes to practice “offensive and defensive” tactics, the Russian government said.
The footage likely showed soldiers belonging to Russia’s 299th Regiment of paratroopers, and highlighted that Moscow could be preparing to “issue an increased number of motorcycles to Russian personnel in Ukraine,” the ISW said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has been contacted for comment via email.
A spokesperson for Ukrainian forces operating in the country’s east, Lieutenant Colonel Pavlo Shamshyn, told domestic news outlets on Saturday that Russia would likely use more motorcycles in the fighting in the summer months.
Ukraine has detected Russia using motorcycles along the hundreds of miles of front lines, including in battles in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, Shamshyn said.
Ukrainian intelligence indicated Moscow is training soldiers to use motorbikes in assaults in Russian training centers and within individual units, Shamshyn said in comments reported by Ukrainian military-focused media.
Shamshyn said Russian soldiers had fixed motorbikes to infantry fighting vehicles attempting to cross the Oskil River close to the town of Dvorichna, north of the Kharkiv city of Kupiansk.
The ISW said it had “observed an increased trend of Russian units conducting mechanized and combined motorized assaults and transporting infantry with motorcycles and civilian vehicles throughout the front line as Russian command continues to adapt its tactics to offset Ukrainian drone strikes.”
Shamshyn said Ukraine would need far more of its explosive first person-view drones to take out Russian soldiers traveling independently on motorbikes.
“And they move quite quickly,” the spokesperson added.
What People Are Saying
Ukrainian forces operating in the east said on Saturday that Russian forces close to the Donetsk village of Bahatyr had attacked using motorbike and car convoys, but claimed Kyiv’s fighters had destroyed 15 out of 18 motorcycles.
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