Occupiers have begun using cavalry on the front, but unsuccessfully – video
At the end of 2025, cases were recorded of Russian forces using horses to carry out assault operations along the front line.
This was reported by Vazhnye Istorii.
Units of the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine released drone footage showing an attempted cavalry attack on Ukrainian positions. Although the exact location of the fighting was not specified, it is known that this brigade is currently engaged in intense battles in the Kupiansk area and along the border between Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
The idea of using horses is being promoted by certain Russian commanders, particularly within the 51st Army, as a way to address infantry exhaustion. According to the occupiers’ concept, a horse is meant to serve as a “silent and cross-country taxi” that delivers an assault group to enemy positions while preserving soldiers’ strength for the actual combat. For these purposes, Karachay breed horses are mainly used; they are specially trained not to be frightened by the sounds of explosions and gunfire. Earlier, in mid-December, Russian cavalry units were spotted on supply routes near Bakhmut, but they have now begun appearing directly on the battlefield.
Despite attempts by pro-war Z-channels to glorify cavalry, most military experts and even Russian bloggers view this initiative skeptically. The main arguments against using animals in modern warfare include a horse’s high body temperature, which makes it an ideal target for thermal imaging devices, and insufficient speed (up to 50 km/h) to escape modern FPV drones. In addition, the myth that horses can avoid mines remains just that — a myth — while the cost of training and maintaining an animal often exceeds the cost of light wheeled vehicles.
Alongside horses, the Russian army has for more than a year been widely using donkeys to transport ammunition under difficult logistical conditions and amid a shortage of buggies. There have even been recorded attempts to mount mobile electronic warfare (EW) systems on donkeys to protect cargo from drones. Such a degradation of technical capabilities to the level of the First World War indicates serious problems for the occupiers in supplying their units with modern transport.
A spokesperson for a Ukrainian Armed Forces brigade operating in the Pokrovsk direction stated that Russians are using donkeys to transport infantry to the front line, and that Russian invaders are now relying solely on infantry assaults after suffering heavy equipment losses in the first half of February 2025.
