Russian Troops Resort to Donkeys For Battlefield Transport As War Nears Three Years

Donkeys are starting to appear among the Kremlin’s invasion forces, with Russian media and war commentators reporting that the animals are used to ferry ammunition and supplies.

The spotlight on the pack animals comes as the Ukraine war continues to strain resources on both sides, and as Russia’s ability to sustain its cornered economy — now increasingly reliant on defense manufacturing — remains in question.

Its full-scale invasion is set to enter its fourth year on February 24.

Pro-Kremlin military bloggers published footage last week of soldiers interacting with donkeys, saying they were deployed as pack transport. Business Insider could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage.

“The guys in one of the directions were given a donkey for logistics. A real donkey,” wrote one military blogger who posted a photo of a donkey standing next to a uniformed man.

“What did you expect? Vehicles are in short supply these days!” wrote another Russian commentator, Kirill Federov.

A widely circulated voice note, which Russian bloggers said was from a soldier on the front lines, said the donkeys were not provided by volunteers but by Russia’s Defense Ministry. However, the ministry has not publicly addressed the claim.

Federov and several other bloggers also posted an image of three armed people in uniform posing with a camel.

It’s unclear how widely the donkeys are being deployed, but several Russian officials publicly defended the practice when 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. The State Duma is the lower house of Russia’s national legislature.

Sobolev, a retired lieutenant general of the Russian army, cited ” very significant difficulties in supplying units and subdivisions” with ammo and food. He said pack-animal transport was a valid solution, and that losing a donkey would be better for the Russian military than losing troops or transport vehicles.