Russian army on motorcycles: as a shortage of tanks and BMP changes the tactics of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

In the spring of 2024, it became noticeable that Russian troops often use motorcycles to storm the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, trying to compensate for the losses of armored vehicles and avoid the defeat of Ukrainian drones. These attempts to storm the strengthening of the Defense Forces of Ukraine with the help of motorcycles, cars, or even quad bikes do not stop until they are.

The causes are called the lack of technology in the Russians - the Armed Forces destroy the enemy equipment in large numbers. However, according to the military-political observer of the Information Resistance group, Alexander Kovalenko, in May 2025, Russian troops show a significant decrease in the loss of major combat tanks and combat armored vehicles, which can be the lowest since July 2023. As of mid -May, only 90 tanks have been destroyed or damaged, which will preserve this trend.

In the category of armored machines, the situation is similar: in the first half of the month 173 units are lost, which is also the lowest in almost two years. This trend reflects not only the savings of technology, but also its real deficiency in Russian units. In many cases, the lack of equipment reaches 60-70% of staffing.

"But here it should be noted that saving armored vehicles and the total transition of Russian troops to light vehicles can in the future lead to the accumulation of this component, taking into account the reserves since the USSR, which has been preserved, its own production and repair of damaged equipment," - said Alexander Kovalenko.

The expert claims that this approach actually imitates the effect of "truce", enabling Russian troops to accumulate armored vehicles under the conditions of uncritical loss of tanks and combat vehicles. However, this is achieved by the cost of significant personal losses, since infantry and light transport do not have proper protection. The Russian command, apparently, does not pay attention to human losses, given priority to the preservation of equipment.

According to military expert Pavel Zrozhny, in 2025, Russian troops encountered a critical deficit of equipment, which led to a decrease in its losses on the front. Although there is some technique, the Russian army saves it very much, especially armored vehicles, such as tanks, BMPs and APCs. Previously, the Russians attacked the classic scheme, when the column of armored vehicles breaks the defense, they are infantry, now such operations have become a rarity.

Instead, most hostilities are infantry, about 10-20% of which use motorcycles to move faster. "These are, in principle, the same infantrymen who simply move faster and everything. However, motorcycles do not provide any protection, leaving fighters vulnerable to any threats. Because of this, Russian troops avoid large-scale armored attacks, which explains the reduction of the loss of equipment," the expert says.

According to the focus, the Russians do not have time to restore their own armored vehicles according to their own needs. According to the most optimistic statements, Russia produces only 220-240 tanks a year, and the rest of the production is the repair of old equipment. Usually the Soviet era technique is restored: they repair the engine, wiring and everything that can be replaced. At best, modern sights or electronics are added, but it is a rarity.

Outdated tanks, such as T-55, are used not as combat units, but as "armored" for infantry transportation. Russian engineers on the spot equip them with improvised protective structures, the so -called "chicken". These so -called tanks are not used as artillery, since their shooting range is limited to 8-10 kilometers. Therefore, because of this, the number of losses of equipment in them has become smaller. A similar situation is observed with artillery.

"The speaker of the South Defense Forces Vlad Voloshin explained that the Russians are forced to send their artillerymen to the fight as infantrymen - simply because they have nothing to shoot. Without the necessary equipment, including sights, artillery systems become virtually useless. One of the Ukrainian artillerymen has notic Purtresses.

As a result, the expert noted that this situation reflects a deep crisis in the Russian army: the depletion of equipment, low production rates and dependence on outdated samples are forced to rely on infantry and improvised means, which reduces the efficiency of their operations. We will remind that in several areas of the occupied Crimea in the morning on May 16, explosions. Local publications reported the work of the air defense, as well as that unknown drones were allegedly seen.