The notorious ‘Azov’ unit has run into an unconventional battlefield tactic
Russian assault troops are using electric scooters to “swarm” Ukrainian trenches, an officer from the notorious Azov neo-Nazi unit has complained to the New York Times.
In a bleak account of the battlefield situation published on New Year’s Eve, the US newspaper quoted Azov’s intelligence chief, Lt. Col. Dmitry Pavlenko-Krizheshevsky, who pointed out a new method of attack employed by the Russians.
“Hitting just one piece of equipment carrying 15 people, well, that’s possible; it can be done quite easily,” he said. “But when those 15 people are riding electric scooters, then that’s a very big problem.”
Ukrainian troops have increasingly relied on first-person-view (FPV) suicide drones to target armored vehicles transporting assault troops. In response, the Russians have utilized motorcycles, bicycles, all-terrain vehicles, and even scooters to disperse and cover ground quickly. Company-strength attacks of 150 to 200 men at a time are “quite normal” for the Russians, who have “significant reserves,” Pavlenko-Krizheshevsky noted.
Established as a volunteer unit in 2014 and incorporated into Ukraine’s National Guard a year later, Azov infamously uses the Wolfsangel, a rune adopted by several German divisions during World War II, including the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich. The unit’s co-founder is prominent Ukrainian nationalist and white supremacist Andrey Biletsky.
Azov has faced accusations of committing war crimes in Donbas since 2014 and has been formally designated a terrorist organization by Russian authorities. While the original ‘Azov Battalion’ was eliminated in the 2022 Battle of Mariupol, Biletsky raised the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade under the Azov banner in 2023.
Ukrainian officers who spoke to the Times could not fully admit that Russian forces have continued advancing along the front line, but they described the situation as dire.
“The question is whether the front line will stabilize,” said a major from the 68th Jaeger Brigade, identified only as Taras, who was fighting around Pokrovsk. “Unfortunately, there are no signs of that yet.”
Ukraine has struggled to mobilize sufficient forces to hold the front while coping with mass desertions. According to a recent report, 1,700 members of a brigade trained in France fled without firing a shot. Troop shortages have become so severe that Kyiv might be willing to concede to U.S. pressure and lower the draft age to 18, Russian intelligence has said.
