Accused of dangerous driving, these Russian soldiers go to the Ukrainian front… on bicycles – Ouest-France evening edition

the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Russian army lost at least 11,000 armored combat vehicles, details the Dutch information site Oryx, which based its research on open source data (OSINT). “This reveals an extremely destructive war in material terms. 11,000 vehicles is more than the initial endowment of the Russian army before the war. explains Léo Péria-Peigné, researcher in armaments and defense industry at the Center for Security Studies of the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri).

These include tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, armored fighting vehicles and mine-protected vehicles. In some tense areas, vehicles have completely deserted, destroyed or damaged. In the industrial inability to renew their fleet, the Russian army is turning to the use of other vehicles, increasingly unsuitable and increasingly old: cars, pick-ups, 4x4s and even Motorcycles were used during offensives.

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Deprived of a car because of their penchant for drinking

While it is obvious that the obsolescence of vehicles poses a problem, it is not the only downside. Another big obstacle is the troops' penchant for the bottle. American media Forbes reports that 21 Russian soldiers died from January to October 2024 due to alcohol-related car accidents. While 96 soldiers were reportedly arrested for driving drunk in summer. Faced with this problem, Russian regional commands took a radical decision: to ban unregistered civilian vehicles. This measure is already suspended in certain areas, but remains effective elsewhere. However, this did not stop Russian soldiers from moving. Some opted for the bike! “Everyone is on bikes, notes the very popular Russian military blog Two Majors (@dva_majors), in a message published on Telegram . Some deliver ammunition, others move to positions, still others go to a meeting. »

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Cycling to the front line

Some even venture to the front line. “The strange sight of a Russian soldier on a bicycle leading an armored vehicle weighing at least 15 tons across a field just [un kilomètre et demi] from the front line, apparently somewhere in Russian-occupied Ukraine, is probably not an isolated incident”tell Forbes. This scene, spotted by Russian drone operators and shared on X by the blogger specializing in the analysis of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict @WarTranslated, seems, even for Russian operators, lunar.

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