Latest news with #28thBrigade
Daily Mail
28-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Moment Putin's 'suicide bikers' roar into hell: Russian commanders send waves of motorbike troops into no-man's-land in desperate one-way missions
Dramatic footage shows Vladimir Putin 's 'suicide bikers' speeding into no-man's land during desperate one-way missions. The troops are sent by their commanders as part of a new tactic to try and overcome Volodymyr Zelensky 's soldiers. They're instructed to breach Ukrainian defences and cause as much chaos behind enemy lines as possible. But the method is reportedly ineffective, and the bikers are often taken out by drones or artillery fire. Some even destroy themselves by crashing into shell craters. Most of the bikers don't even make it as far as enemy lines, but the life expectancy of those who do is little improved as they are stranded and surrounded. 'Basically it's a suicide mission,' Yevhen, a lieutenant captain in Ukraine 's 28th brigade, told The Times. 'Because they never come back.' A video shows three bikers, dubbed 'iron horses' by Russian forces, roaring across fields near Toretsk before they're blown up by a drone. Motorbikes first appeared along this stretch of the front roughly three months ago, according to Yevhen. He said within a few weeks motorcycle assaults had become a daily occurrence - with between ten and 20 bikers spreading across a width of about 400m before speeding towards them. The bikes can only be intercepted by skilled drone pilots as their speed and irregular grouping makes them difficult targets to hit. However, the area of no man's land near Toretsk is so wide that usually only about a quarter will make it across. Those that do survive try to destroy as many enemy drone and mortar crews, who are less well-armed than regular infantrymen, as they can before being killed or captured themselves, Yevhen said. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) writes that a servicemember in a Ukrainian brigade reported on June 24 that the threat of Russian motorcycle assaults is increasing along the frontline as soldiers increasingly integrate them into assault tactics. They stated that the vehicles are 'no longer attacking along roads but mainly attacking through open fields and trying to bypass Ukrainian engineering barriers along the frontline'. Russia began using motorbikes last year, initially as a grassroots initiative among certain regiments faced with heavy losses from traditional infantry raids. The idea gained traction and their use has been formally integrated into the army's tactics, with some units now given specialised rider training. In April, Russia's ministry of defence released a video showing a paratrooper with a gun over his shoulder riding around a motocross track while explosions detonated around him. The ministry plans to equip more than half of its infantry forces with motorcycles, as well as other vehicles including quadbikes and buggies, according to leaked documents seen by Frontelligence Insight, a Ukrainian open-source intelligence agency. Russian forces are reportedly 'mainly using motorcycles as a form of transport for attacking infantry to support diversion, reconnaissance, infiltration, and flanking support missions', Frontelligence Insight reports. It also said that Russian motorcyclists operate in squads of six to eight motorcycles with one or two riders on each motorcycle, between six and 16 personnel in total.
Times
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Times
Putin's ‘suicide bikers' speed into no man's land to cause chaos
Into the chaos of no man's land ride the Russian soldiers. Flying across the steppe at 50mph on cheap Chinese motorbikes, their objective is to breach Ukrainian defences and cause havoc behind enemy lines. But few will ever make it. Most are picked off by drones or artillery fire. Some self-destruct by crashing in the mogul field of shell craters. The life expectancy of those who do survive the journey is little improved, stranded and surrounded by the enemy as they are. 'Basically it's a suicide mission,' Yevhen, a lieutenant captain in Ukraine's 28th brigade, said flatly. 'Because they never come back.' Nonetheless, these latter-day cavalry charges — on what the Russian army refers to as its 'iron horses' — are a growing feature of Moscow's military strategy, in response to the ever greater pervasiveness of drones, which account for up to 70 per cent of all casualties.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Russian assault on Toretsk turns into hunt for Ukrainian Armed Forces
Ukraine's defence forces have foiled another Russian attempt to gain a foothold on the outskirts of Toretsk, Donetsk Oblast. Source: press service of the Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group of Forces, video of the 28th Brigade named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign Details: Thanks to the joint efforts of the 28th, 93rd and 53rd brigades, another Russian attempt to enter and gain a foothold in the industrial zone on the outskirts of Toretsk was thwarted. The group of Russian soldiers was detected on the approach by scouts from the Giurza unit of the 28th Brigade's UAV battalion. After that, the Russians split up and the first three went to assault the building. Closer to the building, the Russian assaulters were met with heavy fire from the infantrymen of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Brigade and the 53rd Separate Mechanised Brigade named after Prince Volodymyr Monomakh, who were directing the Giurza unit's strikes. In addition, the Russians were prevented from regrouping by UAV bomb drops. It is noted that as a result of an intense battle, the only living Russian soldier began to flee. But he didn't get far – he was caught by a machine gun burst. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Asharq Al-Awsat
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Russia Claims It's Taken Another Eastern Ukraine Town
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed on Friday that its forces had captured the coal mining town of Toretsk in their latest breakthrough in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, where Ukrainian defenses are creaking. Ukrainian officials did not immediately make any comments on the Russian claim. A Ukrainian officer in a brigade on the outskirts of Toretsk cast doubt on the Russian statement. Yevhen Alkhimov, the press officer of the 28th Brigade, told The Associated Press by phone that his unit had not been moved from its position, which he said likely would have happened if Toretsk had fallen. Russia's much larger army has conducted a sustained yearlong campaign along the eastern front, gradually loosening the short-handed and weary Ukrainian forces' grip on its strongholds as the war approaches its fourth year later this month. The losses coincide with uncertainty over whether the United States will keep providing vital military aid. US President Donald Trump, who says he is making American interests his priority, has said he wants to end the war, although his plans for securing peace are unclear. Alkhimov, the 28th Brigade officer, told AP his unit continued to hold its ground on Friday afternoon. He added: 'Intense (Russian) assault operations are ongoing.' DeepState, an open-source Ukrainian map widely used by the military and analysts, showed late Thursday that Ukrainian troops were on the northwest edge of Toretsk and still had some soldiers inside the town itself. The Russian Defense Ministry said the Ukrainian military has heavily fortified Toretsk and developed a network of underground communications, turning practically every building into a well-protected firing position. The Ukrainian forces also have used coal mines and waste heaps in Toretsk's western and northern parts as defenses, it said in a statement. Russia's claimed fall of Toretsk, if confirmed, would advance its sweep across the Donetsk, which has cost Moscow heavily in troops and armor but has paid dividends for the Kremlin. In the offensive, Russian forces crush settlements with the brute force of 3,000-pound (1,300-kilo) glide bombs, artillery, missiles and drones, then send in infantry units to attack the exposed defenders. So far this year, Kurakhove was the first significant town to capitulate under Russia's onslaught, after Russian forces captured Avdiivka and Vuhledar last year. Russian forces last month also took Velyka Novosilka, in the same area. The towns were part of a belt of Ukrainian defenses in the east. Russia's other targets are the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk and the strategically important city of Chasiv Yar. Russia seeks to take control of all parts of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk, which together make up Ukraine's Donbas industrial region. Russia accelerated its destruction of Ukraine's front-line cities in 2024 to a scale previously unseen in the war, using the glide bombs and an expanding network of airstrips, according to an Associated Press analysis last year of drone footage, satellite imagery, Ukrainian documents and Russian photos. Meanwhile, the head of the UN atomic watchdog met Friday in Moscow with the chief of Russia's state-owned nuclear energy provider Rosatom to discuss security around southern Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said the situation around Europe's biggest nuclear plant was 'unprecedented' because it is 'in the middle of an active combat zone.' In Kyiv on Tuesday, Grossi said there were 'a few occasions where we had close calls' with regard to the plant, which is under Russian occupation.
