Vladimir Putin’s army is reportedly being forced to use golf carts to move forward in Ukraine because they’re running low on proper military equipment. This has been described as an embarrassing situation for the Russian military.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Ukrainian military group said on Monday that Russian troops recently tried to attack several villages near Pokrovsk, including Yasenove, Bohdanivka, Troitske, and Horikhove. During the battle, Ukrainian forces said they destroyed two Russian tanks, two armored vehicles, four off-road vehicles, four motorcycles, and killed about 50 Russian soldiers.
The ISW also said that new videos from April 7 show Ukrainian troops stopping another Russian attack near Sribne on April 6. In that fight, Ukraine damaged three more armored vehicles and five tanks. A Ukrainian commander said on April 8 that although Russia is now using more armored vehicles in the area, they’ve also started using motorcycles and golf carts to try to move forward.
Another Ukrainian unit recently said that Russia has lost three times more equipment in this region since peace talks began in mid-February.
Experts say that Russian troops have made small gains near the Donetsk-Dnipropetrovsk border, especially near Preobrazhenka, but they haven’t managed to reach the Dnipropetrovsk region yet.
Ukrainian officials also said Russian commanders are sending injured and unfit soldiers into battle just to draw Ukrainian fire and reveal Ukrainian positions, before sending in better-trained troops.
The ISW said that Russia’s Defense Minister Andrei Belousov could stop these harmful tactics if the defense ministry chose to deal with the problem. It also suggested that the Russian government might be trying to save money by taking over control of medical checks and reducing the number of wounded soldiers who qualify for support from the state.
