Dozens of Russians attacked on dirt bikes; a Ukrainian unit blew up 19

The Russian military is struggling to acquire enough new armored vehicles to replace the roughly 16,000 it lost in Ukraine. This spring, it became desperate. It began equipping its assault troops with cheap off-road motorcycles.

The theory is that soldiers on fast dirt bikes could outrun the thousands of tiny Ukrainian drones that flood the 1,100-kilometer-long front line every day in Russia’s 28-month war against Ukraine.

Sometimes it works. While Russia’s northern offensive, which began on May 9, quickly came to a halt in the town of Vovchansk, a few kilometers south of the Russian-Ukrainian border, the nearly 500,000-strong Russian troops in Ukraine have managed to advance several kilometers in some sectors in recent weeks.

Usually, however, these motorcycle attacks do not work – a result that should not surprise the various European armies that experimented with assault motorcycles during and immediately after World War I.

And sometimes the motorcycle attacks turn into bloodbaths for the Russians. On June 28, a large group of motorcyclists – dozens, it seems – attacked the 72nd Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Army in Vuhledar in southern Ukraine.

According to Russian correspondent Alexander Sladkov, the goal was to bypass the Ukrainian positions in order to cut them off. “There is a blow in the back, or rather, from behind, brewing for the Ukrainians,” Sladkov wrote before the attack.

It was not to be. The Ukrainians attacked the Russian column, which included T-80 tanks and other armored vehicles, with drones and, it seems, rockets and artillery. Buried mines may have added to the destruction.

When the smoke cleared, Russian troops were on the ground. The 72nd Mechanized Brigade claimed to have disabled 16 tanks, 34 combat vehicles and 19 motorcycles – and killed or seriously wounded over 800 Russian soldiers.

The Russian commanders “deliberately threw troops into the hands of the Ukrainian death squad with no chance of survival,” reported Ukrainian war correspondent Yuri Butusov.

Tragically for the Russians, the Vuhledar motorcycle attack was not the only failed motorcycle attack in late June or early July. On Monday, analyst Andrew Perpetua counted 25 destroyed Russian motorcycles from the recent fighting.

Sources:

1. The Deep State: https://deepstatemap.live/en#13/47.7583103/37.2906876

2. Alexander Sladkov: https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1807767416039997869

3. Yuri Butusov: https://t.me/ButusovPlus/11510

4. Andrew Perpetua: https://x.com/AndrewPerpetua/status/1808032863293415650