In yet another example of motorized mobility vehicles being used by the military in Russia's multi-year offensive in Ukraine, a new video has emerged showing a failed Russian attack led in part on electric scooters.
In a Russian offensive in the industrial city of Toretsk in eastern Ukraine, several Russian soldiers can be seen riding off-road electric kickscooters on a scarred and potholed road.
They stopped to carry the motorbikes on the worst parts of the broken road, before continuing. Another soldier is seen falling off his scooter after hitting a piece of debris. He gets up, fixes the motorcycle, and the group rides.
Above them, a small Ukrainian plane watches their every move.
After arriving at a damaged, abandoned one-room building, the Russian soldiers tossed their motorcycles aside. Since its roof is missing, the drone can easily watch the soldiers coming down the tunnel from the hole in the ground. Seconds later, Ukrainian artillery destroys the building.
It is becoming a very common occurrence, Lt. Col. Dmytro Pavlenko-Kryzheshevskyi explained the New York Times. Pavlenko-Kryzheshevskyi, the Intelligence Officer of the 12th Special Operations Brigade Azov who pulled off the attack, explained how the scooters grew in the Russian attack.
“To hit just one thing that carries 15 people, that is possible, it can be done easily. But if those 15 people ride electric scooters, that's a very big problem.”
The Russian military has suffered staggering losses during its invasion of Ukraine, and the adoption of light vehicles may be part of a strategy to shake up Ukrainian defenders. The continued loss of tanks and armored personnel carriers (APCs) may also have played a role in Russia's shift to motorcycles, scooters, ATVs, UTVs, and other vehicles used for military purposes.
Unlike Russia, which appears to have moved to low-speed vehicles partly out of necessity, Ukraine has used such vehicles for years in highly targeted operations.
In 2022, we watched as Ukrainian electric bikes produced Delfast electric bikes prepared for use as a mobile platform to carry NLAW rockets used to destroy Russian tanks.
The Ukrainians also used powerful electric bicycles as silent, stealthy vehicles to insert sniper teams into the front lines, allowing the military to operate quickly and efficiently.
An electric kickscooter was recently loaded with explosives and used to kill Lt. Gen. Gen. Igor Anatolyevich Kirillov, head of the Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear defense forces of the Russian military. Ukraine's security services said they were investigating the attack, which took place outside Kirillov's apartment building in the Moscow suburbs.
On the other hand, Russia also used non-standard vehicles, although with very little effect. For example, its soldiers riding a golf cart went viral when they tried to raid Ukrainian territories last year.
FTC: We use auto affiliate links to earn income. More.