Russia Deploys Donkeys to Transport Ammunition in Ukraine Amid Shortage of Combat Vehicles
The Russian military has begun using donkeys to transport ammunition and supplies to frontline troops in Ukraine amid shortage of combat vehicles.
Last week, pro-Kremlin military bloggers shared footage of soldiers interacting with donkeys, claiming they were being used as pack animals.
“The guys in one of the directions were given a donkey for logistics. A real donkey,” a military blogger said in a post in Telegram. According to reports, Russia’s defense ministry was directly supplying the animals to troops.
The extent of the donkeys’ deployment to help troops in their battle against Ukraine remains unclear, but several Russian officials publicly defended the practice after the images went viral among military bloggers.
“There’s nothing wrong with this,” Viktor Sobolev, a member of the State Duma’s defense committee, told the Russian outlet Gazeta.
Sobolev said the deployment of donkeys is a practical response to the challenges of supplying troops in difficult terrain. “If any methods are used for delivery, including donkeys, horses, and so on, then that’s normal.”
He compared the practice to World War II, when animals were widely used in transportation, including horses for artillery movement and dogs trained to carry explosives to enemy tanks.
Another member of the State Duma defense committee, Viktor Zavarin, told the Russian TV network RTVI, “Let them work; let the donkeys contribute to victory.”
Russia is estimated to have lost around 20,000 pieces of military equipment since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago.
According to Oryx, a Dutch research group tracking the war, losses of armored combat vehicles—including tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and armored personnel carriers—total 11,597 units. Of these, 8,720 were destroyed, 367 damaged, 975 abandoned, and 1,535 captured.
Amid mounting equipment losses on the battlefield, the Russian military has increasingly turned to unconventional means of transportation. Earlier reports stated that Russian soldiers have also been using civilian vehicles, tractors, and even horses as they continue their offensive operations in Ukraine.
