Due to a shortage of heavy equipment, Russian troops have begun to explore another form of battlefield mobility—horseback—while assaulting Ukrainian Armed Forces positions on motorcycles.

This was reported by Semyon Pegov, author of the Wargonzo project, Z-voenkor. According to him, the Russian Armed Forces have begun to revive “Russian cavalry.”

This initiative has been spearheaded by the commander of the “Storm” special forces unit of the 9th Brigade, part of the 51st Army, stationed in the occupied part of Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, with the call sign “Khan,” Pegov writes.

Horseback riding training is now being conducted at the brigade’s training ground. “It’s true that training is necessary not only for the riders (in Khan’s offensive tactics, there are two of them per horse—one controls, the other provides fire support), but also for the horses themselves.

It’s important that they get used to the sounds of gunfire and explosions and not be frightened by them. But this, too, can be solved. I’ve seen it myself,” the military correspondent explains.

He asserted that the idea of ​​reviving the cavalry, which was abolished as a separate branch of the armed forces in the Soviet army in 1955, isn’t a “total regression” and has several advantages.

For example, according to Pegov, horses see well in the dark, don’t need roads to accelerate on the final stretch of the offensive, and, thanks to their instincts, the animals supposedly can avoid mines.

“I’m confident that we’ll soon witness the historic return of the Russian cavalry. Let’s wish the Khan and his modern-day ‘horde’ good luck. We’re looking forward to some epic footage from the front lines,” Pegov wrote.

Due to depleted equipment and the changing nature of combat, with breakthroughs by large numbers of troops no longer feasible due to the ubiquity of drones, Russian troops on the front in Ukraine have switched to assault operations using mobile equipment—motorcycles, scooters, and other “innovative” vehicles—in various sectors of the front.

Among them are “tank-sheds” (tsar-mangals), which were spotted on the Donetsk front as early as April 2024. These vehicles were equipped with additional armor made of sheet metal and other makeshift anti-drone measures.

They were used to break through positions or, for example, to breach minefields. Prior to this, so-called “mangals”—protective screens mounted above the roof of a tank’s turret—were widely used in combat zones.

Russian military personnel also used donkeys , horses, and even camels to transport cargo, including ammunition . Moreover, such methods were even deemed acceptable by the State Duma.

“It’s better to kill a donkey than two people in a vehicle transporting cargo essential for the combat and survival of units and subunits on the front lines,” declared Lieutenant General Viktor Sobolev, a member of the State Duma Defense Committee.

(c)THE MOSCOW TIMES 2025