Pro-Russian troops appear to use motorcycles to outwit drones and assault Ukrainian positions

Donetsk and Luhansk militia members receive off-road vehicles in Rostov region, Russia, November 4, 2022. REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov

• Pro-Russian separatist soldiers appear to have attacked Ukrainian positions on motorcycles.
• A Russian-backed battalion from the breakaway Luhansk People’s Republic posted the video.
• Russian forces have had to explore increasingly inventive ways to outwit Ukrainian drone strikes.

Pro-Russian soldiers with a separatist militia have released footage on social media appearing to show them attacking Ukrainian positions on fast motorcycles.

The maneuver appears to have been conducted by militia forces from the Zarya Battalion in the Luhansk region. It highlights Russian forces’ adaptation to the continued challenges and threats posed by Ukrainian first-person view (FPV) attack drones.

In the video, several troops can be seen on motorbikes riding over rough, cross-country terrain. According to the post, the Russian assault was successful.

Business Insider was unable to verify the location or time of the footage independently.

Using motorcycles, which have no protection for the riders, can be highly risky. In an incident toward the end of last year, motorbike-riding Russian air defense troops in Krynky in Ukraine’s Kherson region were chased down and killed (the video of the strike includes graphic images) by an explosives-laden Ukrainian first-person-view drone.

However, pro-Kremlin Russian military reporter Alexander Sladkov wrote on Telegram that this latest motorcycle display would make the bike “the most popular form of transportation” for the Russian Armed Forces on the front lines in the coming months.

More generally, this video follows a broader attempt by Russian forces to counteract the increased use of drones by Ukrainian soldiers, increasing speed and movement to make it more difficult for Ukrainian drones to target them, according to online defense magazine Army Recognition.

Now in the third year of full-scale Russian invasion, FPV drones have become ubiquitous on the battlefield. Many of these drones are capable of carrying several pounds of explosives.

Screenshot from video Zarya Battalion Telegram

Russian forces have had to find increasingly inventive ways of avoiding strikes while also carrying out assaults on Ukrainian positions.

In March, videos shared on social media appeared to show Russia using open-top golf cart-style vehicles near the frontline in Ukraine.

One video appeared to show a Russian armored column, which included several Desertcross 1000-3 all-terrain vehicles, attacking Ukrainian positions in Donetsk Oblast, Forbes reported.

The vehicles were being used to transport infantry to the frontline, per Forbes, and the video shows them being struck by shells and explosives dropped from drones.

The video ends with shots of the open-top vehicles lying wrecked in the mud.

Before this, Russian troops were seen using quad bikes to attack Ukrainian positions, reports said.

Ukrainian soldiers on the front line near the village of Robotyne told CNN that Russian troops were using the four-wheeled vehicles to attack Ukrainian positions at night, typically with three or four soldiers on each bike.

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