They appear as an exhalation, cross the battlefield to full pill and disappear between the noise of the shots and the Ukrainian soldiers call them “kamikazes on two wheels.” They are the new protagonists of a Russian tactic as suicidal as desperate: motorcycles that are thrown against the enemy line with the idea of baffling it, breaking the lines and sowing chaos in the rear. As published The Times and collect these incursions are repeated more and more frequently in areas such as Toretsk, to the east of the country.
On board motorcycles that reach 80 kilometers per hour, Russian soldiers cross the land of anyone with the mission of attacking drone and mortar equipment, more exposed than regular infantry. But almost none achieves it. “They never come back,” summarizes a commander of the 28th Brigade. “The majority fall before arriving. The drones hunt, fall artillery on them or are stamped alone against some crater,” they say from the front.
The first time the Ukrainians saw one of these motorcycles was three months ago. In less than a month, they were already part of the landscape. “They began to come every day,” says Yevhen, a 33 -year -old soldier who has been in the area since November 2022. His brigade says that only one in four manages to cross the lines. And although many end up surrounded and captured, that does not stop attempts.
The strategy, as far as it seems, has its logic: move fast, in small groups and by unpredictable routes. That complicates that Ukrainian drones operators can intercept them in time. And if they manage to arrive, the damage can be serious. But the human cost is too. “It’s a suicidal mission and they know it,” insists the commander.
