Andrii gets off his motorcycle in the Ukrainian municipality of Pokrovsk to collect supplies that he will take to his unit on the war front. Andrii is a soldier of the 3rd Assault Brigade and his motorcycle is his most precious asset. It is a BMW ideal for mountain roads and he uses it to transport equipment between positions on the front line of the battle in this sector of the Donetsk province. Andrii and his men are an exception, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are not replicating what this military veteran considers “clear progress of the enemy”: the introduction of motorcycles as rapid assault cavalry.
The war in Ukraine has evolved into a conflict in which any movement is determined by the massive presence of bomb and frontline monitoring drones. More and more small vehicles are coming into action to the detriment of the slower and more identifiable armored infantry transports. In interviews carried out by this newspaper, two weeks ago on the Pokrovsk front, three different battalions gave the process of evacuating wounded soldiers as an example of the change: now it can only be done at night and especially in small vehicles such as buggies.
Ukrainian military analysts and their Western allies have noted the leap forward that has occurred with these vehicles since last April in the invading army. Videos broadcast by Russian media and military accounts show a large park of motorcycles at regimental bases such as the 123rd Motorized Rifle Brigade, in Donetsk, or the 71st Motorized Rifle Regiment on the Zaporizhia front. In the latter case, the images released by its components show motorcycles to which metal cages have been installed to protect the crew from drone attacks. In recent months, Russian soldiers have recommended through their Telegram accounts that electric motorcycles be used, because they are silent and more difficult to detect by drones with thermal night vision.
“Motorcycles are a good tactic because they are more difficult to intercept by drones, they are less noisy and faster than armored vehicles or off-road vehicles,” says Andrii, “the Russians are using them in large numbers and they are improving.” In another sector of the Donetsk front, in Kostiantinivka, a sergeant from the 93rd Mechanized Brigade confirmed the tactical change to Morning Express on June 8: “The Russians have everything for transporting infantry, and now they have motorcycles. These are the worst, because they are difficult to detect and our men cannot fully identify what that distant noise is.”
The action patterns of these Russian units that they have detected, as these representatives of the 93rd Brigade and the 3rd Brigade agree, are the same: groups of eight soldiers from professional assault units ride four motorcycles, go out at dusk or at night and, undetected, they reach their front line trench or assault directly on the Ukrainian positions. Rob Lee, a military expert at the American Foreign Policy Research Institute, corroborated last April in his X account that the advantage of motorcycles “is that they reach the trenches sooner and are more difficult to locate.” “The assaults,” added Lee, “are carried out in coordination with artillery and FPV drones [los que cuentan con cámara que guía al piloto]”.
Join Morning Express to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe
Andrii highlights that they are also using quadsfour-wheeled motorcycles, and describes a successful assault in May on the Pokrovsk front: 11 quads Russians, with four men each, managed to cross the first line of Ukrainian defense without being detected. From behind and by surprise, they dealt a hard blow to the soldiers of the brigade defending that sector.
More vulnerable
Not everyone believes that using motorcycles is such a good idea, because they are also more vulnerable and unstable. Lincoln, code name of the commander of a Ukrainian tank company on the Bakhmut and Chasiv Yar front, assessed the situation on May 29 in the middle Net Censor: “The Russians are carrying out assaults with buggies and motorcycles. I can’t imagine how motivated you must be to do this. A conscious person knows that 90% of them will end up being 200 [terminología militar para identificar a un fallecido]”.
Militarnyi, a Ukrainian media specialized in military information, concluded that it is not clear that the vulnerability of the motorcycles compensates for their use: “Their speed allows them to reduce the time they are in the open field, minimizing the possibility of being detected and destroyed. But despite their speed and maneuverability, they are often easy targets for drones and artillery, and due to their lack of protection, their crews’ survival options are minimal. Multiple videos circulate on social networks of motorcycles destroyed by drones, but also of groups of these vehicles avoiding explosions more easily than armored vehicles or off-road vehicles.
Andrii, the soldier of the 3rd Assault Brigade, does not doubt that the Ukrainian army should incorporate the use of motorcycles, if not to attack – the Ukrainian position is now defensive – then to access the first positions on the front more safely. Ukraine had maintained the initiative in resource innovation in the war until the second half of 2023. The Kiev Armed Forces follow NATO standards, which encourage the decision-making autonomy of units starting at the company level — above There are the battalions and the brigades.
Russia now surpasses the Ukrainian army in all areas, and Andrii believes that it is because the military power of the Russian State is now working at full speed: “Our SUVs, our drones, we either have them because they come from private donation campaigns, or we have them. paid us. The same will be if we want motorcycles, the Government will not bring them to us.”
Follow all the international information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter.
.
.
_
