A Ukrainian drone pilot found a hidden Russian arsenal, only to discover it was filled with horses and old cars

• A Ukrainian drone pilot told Business Insider how the Russians found an arsenal of horses and Ladas.

• In Russia, unconventional means of transportation such as horses or bicycles appear to be increasingly used.

• The pilot’s commander said it was a sign of how Russia fights and calculates its losses differently.

Cosmos flew his quadcopter over the ruined warehouse and guided it past a corner of the roof, where shattered sheets of metal had collapsed and created a hole.

The drone pilot’s unit, the Wild Division, suspected the building was a logistics hub for Russian troops, about 15 km, or about 9 miles, from the line of contact in southern Ukraine. These secret locations often contained ammunition or fuel stocks, and Cosmos fiber optic drone armed with explosives to destroy them.

But the drone rotated its camera to reveal what looked more like a farmer’s garage inside: four civilian cars, a pair of motorcycles, and two bridled horses.

“We didn’t expect to see this. It was unusual,” Cosmos told Business Insider, on the condition that he is identified only by his call sign.

“We were expecting to find some armored vehicles,” he added.

Video of the discovery went viral in Ukraine last week, at a time when war is becoming increasingly common. Russian soldiers use unconventional means of transportation Vehicles such as pack animals and bicycles to carry out attacks or logistics tasks. Cosmos said the drone mission was carried out in early February.

The smaller profile of a horse or civilian car may be more difficult for a drone to detectBut Russia’s repeated use of them has also raised questions about the feasibility of its tactics and whether it is producing enough military equipment to sustain its occupation.

Cosmos’ teammates and officers at Wild Division, a first-person perspective drone company in the 82nd Air Assault Brigade, had previously seen clips of Russian soldiers riding horses to attack Ukrainian positions.

One of the famous examples they recall occurred in Zaporizhzhia, where a Ukrainian drone team attacked Russian infantry crossing the front lines on horseback last month.

Cosmos, who has been piloting a drone for a year, said that he saw animals on the front lines for the first time.

He flew his explosives-laden drone directly behind one of the vehicles, and his crew then crashed into several more vehicles inside, he said. Cosmos said that when Russian troops moved their transport assets, the Wild Division found the next warehouse and attacked there as well.

“The enemy often lives hiding near these places,” Cosmos said of the warehouse. “It’s common for us to check all targets. Sometimes we can see enemy infantry, or you can see their vehicles.”

Russia calculates the war differently

The Wild Division declined to say exactly where the depot is located, but its brigade is generally stationed in Donbas.

The commander of the Cosmos battalion told Business Insider that the discovery of the horses surprised him, too.

“I thought it was a place for transports, some sort of transshipment hub,” said the major, whose call sign was Fizruk.

Fizruk said the sight of horses and carts on his own front line could be a sign that Russian forces are running out of standard resources, but it also reflects Moscow’s situation. the abrasive nature of the fight.

The cars spotted by Cosmos appear to be Nivas, cheap civilian off-road vehicles from the Russian Lada car brand.

“They treat these as if they were going to be lost anyway, as if they were going to disappear anyway,” he said. “Look, let’s say the price of a Niva is $2,000. The price of a Hummer, which the Ukrainian Armed Forces use in many places, is $20,000, maybe even more.”

“From that perspective, since they lost equipment in the attacks, why pay $20,000 for one vehicle when you can buy 10 Nivas for $20,000?” Fizruk added.

The Kremlin is known to pressure the front line with constant ground attacks, sending small groups of infantry to approach Ukrainian positions on foot or by cheap vehicles. The strategy has proven costly, as NATO has now said so far. 25,000 Russian soldiers die every month.

Maintaining this style of warfare pushed Moscow to resort to informal recruitment and arms procurement, including hiring soldiers and purchasing weapons from abroad. Ammunition from North Korea.

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