Russia appears to have begun to deploy its troops on horseback in Ukraine, as reports emerge that President Vladimir Putin has nearly depleted his Soviet military stockpiles.
Reports that Russia’s military is using horses in the war suggests that Putin is resorting to extreme measures due to equipment shortages caused by his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in 2022. The conflict has resulted in the largest depletion of Russia’s military equipment in 80 years, independent news outlet The Insider reported earlier this month.
Videos circulating on Russian Telegram channels appear to show Russian soldiers mounted on horses.
“You’ve got a docile horse, an obedient one,” one Russian soldier said to another in a video shared on X, formerly Twitter, by Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs. “You’re a good rider.”
The other soldier complained: “These horses are so slow!”
The footage was reportedly filmed in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where fierce clashes are ongoing as Moscow attempts to seize the entirety of the Donbas, which comprises the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Lieutenant General Viktor Sobolev, a member of Russia’s State Duma Defense Committee, told Russian newspaper Gazeta that the military has been using donkeys to transport ammunition, food, and other equipment to the front line.
Sobolev justified the measure by saying it was normal practice during World War II to use horses and dogs to transport equipment.
“There are currently very big difficulties in providing units and subdivisions, including, that is, assault squads and groups and so on, with ammunition, military-technical equipment, and food too,” said Sobolev.
“There is nothing bad here. During the Great Patriotic War, part of our artillery was horse-drawn. It reached Berlin. Dogs were used in the Great Patriotic War,” Sobolev added.
X user Dmitri, from War Translated, an independent project that translates materials about the war, posted: “Donetsk direction. A new mounted unit of the Russian Armed Forces.”
Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, said on X: “‘World’s second army’ in all its glory. Rolling back to the times of the Russian Empire—complete with cavalry and drafting representatives of national minorities as cannon fodder.
“These soldiers are from the Republic of Sakha, a region incredibly rich in natural resources. Yet, the indigenous people of Sakha are fighting a war in Ukraine on stolen horses, while Moscow fills its coffers with proceeds from their diamonds, gold, gas, and oil.”
Russia and Ukraine will both continue to grapple with equipment shortages in the grinding conflict, which enters its fourth year on February 24.
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