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What about the use of donkeys is strange? I've been hearing a lot of ridicule surrounding this the last few days and I don't really get it. Russian army seems t

What about the use of donkeys is strange? I've been hearing a lot of ridicule surrounding this the last few days and I don't really get it. Russian army seems to do a lot of weird, inefficient, or baffling things but why are donkeys a sticking point? US army also used donkeys in places where vehicles were inconvenient in Afghanistan and DARPA spent millions on developing a robotic donkey replacement for those kind of conditions that ultimately failed to be a replacement for the real thing. At some point it starts to feel like poor propaganda, this conflict has spawned a number of cases of ridicule along the lines of "when their side does X it's because they're too poor/stupid/corrupt to do any different, but when we do X it's because we're clever/ingenious/thrifty". It's borderline absurd to see people falling for the same kind of propaganda they're railing against.

rasz 2y ago
The thing that makes vehicles inconvenient in flat as a pool table Ukraine are huge losses incurred daily by drones. The only reason to see donkeys now is because they are cheaper than Chinese mopeds and two-wheeled tractors ru troops currently use for short supply trips, not to mention loafs/hunters they were paying ~$15K/piece in 2023. They make sense due to disposable status of ru soldiers, no need to worry about survivability, no hummer/mrap/apc for the meat.
- ultimafan 2y ago
  It's my understanding (though I'm far from an expert) that vehicles aren't convenient in a lot of places around the front because the roads aren't great (and weren't great to begin with even before the shelling/bombing started) and because the springtime mud conditions in Ukraine can be borderline impossible to drive through with both Western and Russian vehicles. There's no short supply of photos online of all kinds of tanks/transports/trucks from both sides completely stuck in (and even rescue vehicles coming in to pull them out getting stuck as well). So it doesn't really surprise me to hear news of donkeys or other animals being used taking off around the time the seasons are changing and winter is ending. It wouldn't make much sense to pay big bucks for a hummer/mrap/apc style vehicle for short hauls if it can't even make the trip without getting stuck in the mud and getting hit with a drone.

rasz 2y ago

The thing that makes vehicles inconvenient in flat as a pool table Ukraine are huge losses incurred daily by drones. The only reason to see donkeys now is because they are cheaper than Chinese mopeds and two-wheeled tractors ru troops currently use for short supply trips, not to mention loafs/hunters they were paying ~$15K/piece in 2023. They make sense due to disposable status of ru soldiers, no need to worry about survivability, no hummer/mrap/apc for the meat.

ultimafan 2y ago
It's my understanding (though I'm far from an expert) that vehicles aren't convenient in a lot of places around the front because the roads aren't great (and weren't great to begin with even before the shelling/bombing started) and because the springtime mud conditions in Ukraine can be borderline impossible to drive through with both Western and Russian vehicles. There's no short supply of photos online of all kinds of tanks/transports/trucks from both sides completely stuck in (and even rescue vehicles coming in to pull them out getting stuck as well). So it doesn't really surprise me to hear news of donkeys or other animals being used taking off around the time the seasons are changing and winter is ending. It wouldn't make much sense to pay big bucks for a hummer/mrap/apc style vehicle for short hauls if it can't even make the trip without getting stuck in the mud and getting hit with a drone.