150 Russian Motorcycle Troops Attacked Pokrovsk
The incredible scale of the bike assault points to a deepening shortage of armored vehicles in the Russian military
Russian field armies have renewed their push on Pokrovsk, a fortress city in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast. But these armies are running low on healthy infantry—and even lower on armored vehicles.
Which is why some Russians, injured in previous battles, have limped into action on crutches. And why others are riding motorcycles across the mine-seeded, artillery-pocked, drone-patrolled front line.
On or just before Thursday, an unprecedented 150 Russian bike troops—reinforced by additional troops riding in soft-skinned all-terrain vehicles—stormed positions held by the Ukrainian 14th Chervona Kalyna Brigade around Myrolyubivka, a few miles east of Pokrovsk.
The insane bike assault ended in disaster for the Russians. The 14th Brigade “delivered a decisive blow against waves of Russian equipment and manpower,” the Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security of Ukraine reported.
“Despite the scale of the assault, Ukrainian troops held their ground and repelled the entire attack with discipline and precision.” The Ukrainian brigade reported heavy Russian losses, including:
at least 240 troops killed or wounded;
96 motorcycles knocked out along with
21 armored vehicles,
2 other vehicles and
2 artillery pieces.
It’s standard practice, as the wider war grinds into its fourth year, for Russian regiments to send under-trained, unprotected troops on “reconnaissance-by-force” missions in the early hours of a planned offensive.
“These are ordered to advance towards where they assess Ukrainian positions to be, conducting reconnaissance by drawing fire,” Nick Reynolds and Jack Watling explained in a recent study for the Royal United Services Institute in London.
“If the group encounters resistance, Russian commanders assess where they believe the best lines of approach are, and in particular, where the boundaries between defensive units lie,” Reynolds and Watling added. “If Ukrainian positions are positively identified, sections are persistently sent forward to attack positions.”
Many of these recon troops walk into battle. Other ride on bikes or ATVs or in civilian cars and trucks. In that sense, the Myrolyubivka bike swarm wasn’t unusual.
What was odd was the scale. According to Reynolds and Watling, the recon probes usually involve no more than 30 people, sometimes supported by a single armored vehicle.
The implication is that the recent bike attack was the day’s main assault, not the pre-assault probe. If so, it was yet another sign that, having lost 15,000 armored vehicles in action since February 2022, the Russian military is struggling to fully equip its assault battalions.
At least, that’s what the Ukrainian Stratcom concluded. It’s “more evidence that Russia now lacks armor.”
Read more:
A Russian Soldier On Crutches Tried to Breach Ukrainian Defenses Near Pokrovsk
“On the Pokrovsk direction, the enemy attempted to advance near Sukha Balka, Yelyzavetivka, Lysivka, Kotlyne, Udachne, Kotlyarivka, Bohdanivka and Andriivka,” the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies noted on Tuesday.