All Russian brigades can form their own motor platoons and instruct them to "deliver the necessary cargo and evacuate the wounded."
Points of attention
- The more Russian soldiers ride into battle on bikes, the more they get injured and die due to their vulnerability to artillery and drones.
- The Russian army is doubling down on the concept of assault motorcycles, which indicates a lack of equipment and the need for alternative options in military operations.
- Losses of Russian forces as a result of motorcycle attacks confirm the ineffectiveness of this tactic and the great vulnerability to modern armored vehicles and drones.
- Ukrainian troops are carrying out effective resistance with the help of drones and heavy artillery against Russian motorcycle troops, inflicting significant blows on the enemy.
- Russian commanders send motorcycle troops to direct assaults on Ukrainian positions due to a lack of equipment, which leads to increased losses among their own forces.
The Russian Federation sends the occupiers with motorcycles to storm
Given that stocks of armoured vehicles are running out, the Russian army is increasingly sending the invaders into battle on cheap motorcycles.
As Forbes writes, the more Russian soldiers ride into battle on bikes, "the more Russian soldiers die or get injured riding into battle on bikes."
Analyst Andrew Perpetua confirmed the destruction — primarily by Ukrainian drones — of five Russian combat motorcycles in February, one in March, 13 in April, 56 in May, and nine in the first week of June alone. Dozens more motorcycles were damaged.
This is a truly ridiculous amount of casualties that the Russians suffered as a result of motorcycle attacks, — wrote Perpetua.
Despite significant losses, the Russian army is doubling down on assault motorcycles. The 5th motorised rifle brigade, fighting around Krasnohorivka, formed a special motorcycle platoon. It additionally emphasises the Russian propagandist correspondent Aleksandr Sladkov.
This is in addition to the combat motorcyclists in the battalions, Sladkov said.
According to the so-called Russian "military corps", the brigades can form their motor platoons and entrust them with "the delivery of the necessary goods and the evacuation of the wounded."
Russians are increasingly experiencing a lack of technology
However, Russians are likely to play a direct combat role as well. More and more often, Russian commanders, experiencing a lack of equipment, send their motorcycle troops to direct assaults on Ukrainian positions.
During one of the last Russian operations somewhere in the south of Ukraine, the first wave of attackers rode tanks and armoured fighting vehicles. When this wave crashed into a wall of Ukrainian artillery and drones, the Russians sent a second wave — on foot and bikes. The results were disastrous for the Russians.
Sometimes even six artillery pieces fired at their positions at the same time, — recalls the operator of the Ukrainian drone with the call sign "Krigsforscher".
In recent weeks, no fewer than four Ukrainian brigades — the 28th, 30th and 54Mechanisedzed Brigades and the 79th Airborne Assault Brigade — have struck Russian airborne troops with explosive drones and grenade-dropping bombers. The improvised armour that some Russian units weld on their motorcycles doesn't help much.
This spring, there was speculation that Russia's new bicycle tactic could help the Kremlin's war effort by making individual soldiers faster and less visible from the air.
In practice, motorcycle troops are hopelessly vulnerable to artillery and drones—and die in ever-increasing numbers. However, with too few armoured vehicles, the Russians don't have many alternatives.
If the occupying unit is not lucky enough to have access to fairly modern BMP combat vehicles, then it will have to make do with 50-year-old MT-LB armored tractors, Chinese golf carts or motorbikes. The only other option is to go to war. But it is even more dangerous than riding a motorcycle, he said.
