BREAKING: Speeding Toward Ukrainian Lines On Two Wheels, Russia’s Motorcycle Troops Got ‘Beaten In The Teeth’

After losing nearly 15,000 combat vehicles in the first two years of its wider war on Ukraine, Russia got desperate. Production of new vehicles, combined with the restoration of old vehicles from long-term storage, couldn’t keep pace with the monthly loss of more than 600 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers....CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE

That’s why, in the early months of the third year of the wider war, more Russian troops have been riding into battle in trucks, open-top golf carts and—more recently—motorcycles.

The growing number of unprotected—0r at best, minimallyprotected—vehicles on the Russian side of the front line doesn’t mean Russian forces can’t win battles against ammunition-starved, understaffed Ukrainian brigades.

But the devolution of Russian vehicles does underscore one of the Kremlin’s most serious challenges in a grinding war that officials in Moscow once claimed would end in Russian victory in mere days. “While Russia remains a serious battlefield threat, [its] ability to replace lost armored vehicles is limited,” Ukrainian analysis group Frontelligence Insight explained.

Armies have been riding on motorcycles for more than a century—in other words, as long as motorcycles have existed. A fast, maneuverable and inexpensive motorbike is an efficient way for a courier or scout to get around the battlefield.

The problem for Russian troops in 2024 is that, running low on purpose-built armored vehicles as well as larger civilian-style vehicles, they’re riding their unprotected bikesdirectly at Ukrainian positions—just like they started doing with their roofless Desertcross 1000 all-terrain vehicles a few months ago.

“Motorcycles are replacing golf carts,” Ukrainian war correspondent Yuriy Butusov noted.

Swapping bigger vehicles for bikes has cost some Russian units dearly. On or around April 15, the Ukrainian army’s 92nd Assault Brigade defeated an attack by Russian motorcycle troops outside of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

Three weeks later, around May 7, the Ukrainian 79th Air Assault Brigade destroyed eight motorcycles during a Russian assault on Novomykhailivka, also in the east. The Russians “were beaten in the teeth,” the brigade quipped on social media.

Frontelligence Insight cited one “vivid” example: a Russian motorcycle with a crude improvised sidecar for transporting several soldiers. The riders abandoned that overburdened bike during an assault on the eastern town of Bilohorivka, apparently last week.

Despite the losses, at least one Russian unit still vouches for motorcycles as assault vehicles. The Zarya Battalion of the Russian army’s 123rd Motor Rifle Brigade claimed its bikes are faster and harder to spot than a heavier, slower armored vehicle.

And the Russians are improving their war bikes, much like they improved their bizarre metal-clad turtle tanks. To mitigate the threat from Ukraine’s speedy first-person-view drones, which have been observed more than once chasing down Russian motorcycle troops, some Russian units have weaved metal mesh around their bikes.

The Ukrainian 79th Air Assault Brigade isn’t impressed. “Our operators of attack drones did not appreciate the creativity,” the brigade posted on social media following its defeat of the Russian motorcycle assault on or just before May 7. “Each rider was fined for speeding long before the finish line,” the brigade joked alongside a video it posted depicting wrecked motorcycles and dead Russian riders.