As the battle with drones continues, motorcycles have become a rising star in Ukraine’s war.
The Ukrainian military’s 425th separate assault regiment, nicknamed “Skala,” announced on Tuesday that it had officially formed the country’s first motorcycle attack company.
“As a result, we now have a modern ‘cavalry’ whose main task is to rapidly break through to enemy positions, conduct assault operations, and quickly shift the direction of attack,” it said on its Telegram channel.
The use of motorcycles to carry troops into battle is well-documented in Ukraine. Since early last year, Russian troops have been increasingly seen riding on light vehicles such as ATVs and motorbikes as both a means of transport and a way to attack Ukrainian positions rapidly.
Their rise is largely viewed as a direct consequence of drone warfare, since armored vehicles are often vulnerable to exploding drones on Ukraine’s flat terrain.
While motorbikes leave the rider more exposed, they’re faster, nimbler, and smaller, which makes them better able to evade attacks from small drones.
“Russia’s increased use of motorcycles is an adaptation in response to pervasive Ukrainian drone strikes against Russian armored vehicles and the unsustainable armored vehicle losses that Russian forces suffered in late 2023 and 2024,” the Institute for the Study of War wrote in early May.
Ukraine’s troops initially balked at the attack method, which the Russians used in suicide assaults to wear down Ukrainian defenses and munitions.
But the 425th’s announcement on Tuesday means that some Ukrainians are now adopting the same tactic.
In its statement, the 425th said its motorbike-riding troops had trained for “hundreds of hours” to shoot while on the move. The statement did not indicate whether the unit has started fighting or when its motorcycle troops will hit the front lines.
The 425th released a video of about two dozen soldiers riding tandem on off-road motorbikes, with each pair involving one driver and an infantryman wielding an assault rifle.
“The goal is to ride in, strike quickly at enemy positions, dismount, storm in, secure a foothold, and complete the mission successfully,” a Ukrainian soldier says in the video.
Deploying motorbikes in a direct assault is an unusual tactic for modern war, where such vehicles are typically used for reconnaissance or infiltration. US special forces, for example, have used commercial bikes to navigate difficult terrain or traverse deserts in the Middle East.
But in Ukraine, the number of motorbikes sighted on the front lines has grown dramatically. In April, Ukrainian troops said they repelled a Russian assault on Pokrovsk that involved over 100 motorcycles.
Several Russian motorized attacks last month were also reported to be comprised wholly of motorcycles and civilian vehicles. The latter have been increasingly appearing in the warzone, with Moscow’s troops often sighted traveling in sedans and tractors at the rear — a likely sign of strain on Russian logistics and resources.
Analysts from the ISW said in late April that it’s likely Russia will start further incorporating motorcycles into its tactics for future attacks.
Lt. Col. Pavlo Shamshyn, spokesperson of Ukraine’s ground forces in Kharkiv, told local media that week that Kyiv believed the same.
“Our intelligence records the fact that in training centers on the territory of the Russian Federation and in the units themselves, active training of motorcycle drivers is taking place, and all this indicates that the assault operations of spring-summer 2025 will be carried out on motorcycles,” Shamshyn told Ukrainian outlet Suspilne.
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