New concerns for Ukraine: The Russian army resumed the Mecanized attacks on the front after a break of more than a year

Russian forces seem to use more and more armored vehicles in some tactical attacks, after a decrease in their use starting in winter 2024-2025, the Institute for War Study (ISW) shows in its last evaluation on the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Public combat images analyzed by ISW suggests that Russian forces have not taken a mechanized attack on the size of a company or larger in Ukraine in April 2025, and that they have been largely based on motorcycles and “buggy” to attack during the summer 2025.

In fact, the ISW noted in an evaluation published in early July that Moscow military leaders placed orders for tens of thousands of motorcycles to be bought from China, although their use on the battlefield is viewed with reluctance including by Russian military bloggers.

Recently, Russian forces have slightly increased their use of armored vehicles against Ukrainian positions and performed a series of mechanized attacks by the size of a platoon in the Donetk and Zaporation regions, starting in July.

But ISW also noticed the indications that Russia temporarily reduced the consumption of tanks and armored vehicles. The explanation for the seemingly contradictory situation is that Russia seems to gradually increase its ability to refurbish armored vehicles from the Soviet era, while completing their armored reserves by avoiding their involvement in extremely expensive attacks.

Nor is ISW sure why the Russians resumed larger mechanized attacks

Russian forces may have temporarily increased the use of armored vehicles to test the vulnerabilities of Ukrainian defense based on drones in different areas of the front or that the Russian Defense Ministry (MOD) now has the ability to sufficiently repair the damaged armored on the front line or to refurbish the Russian units in the first line with such equipment.

It is also possible that Russian forces have recently increased their risk tolerance in the use and loss of armored vehicles-possibly as part of testing a new tactic or new operational concept-although it is not clear why it would recalculate this risk at this time.

The Russian forces recently submitted to the northeast of Sork, a city in the Donetk region, during an enthusiastic mechanized attack, the size of a company.

Geolocalized images published on July 27 indicate that Russian forces recently submitted to the northeast of Sork during a mechanized attack on the size of an enhanced company.

Mecanized attack with tanks and armored carriers in the direction of Sressk

The Ukrainian brigade that rejected the attack reported that Russian forces used six tanks, three armored trigger (APCs), six MT-LB fighting vehicles, one armored recovery vehicle, 12 civil vehicles, two “buggy” and 41 motorcycles.

Ukraine's “Hortyia” group of forces reported on July 26 that Ukrainian troops rejected a Russian motorized attack composed of up to 80 armored and motorized (unspecified) vehicles to the northeast of Sork, and the geolocalized images on July 27 show, most likely, a wave of the July 26 attack.

The Russian forces have long been trying to conquer Sressk and have constantly attacked on the front line in the direction of this city at least in the summer of 2024. In November and December 2024, the Russian forces carried out a series of mechanized attacks by the size of a battalion in the direction of Sork, but otherwise they were largely based on the slow and exhausted infantry attacks.

The Russian forces again intensified their offensive operations in the direction of Sressk in early summer 2025, and Russian military bloggers began to assert, by the end of June, that Russian sabotage and recognition groups operate in the Eastern peripheral areas of the Sressk.

The recent progress of Russian forces to the northeast of Sork indicates that they are just a few miles from the city, and Russian forces could soon start launching more focused attacks.