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The ‘camel tactic’: the sacrifice of Russian soldiers to transport equipment to the front

Despite growing threats from drones, the Russian military continues to use soldiers as ‘kamikaze camels’, a suicide strategy introduced by Wagner in Bakhmut

On the front line of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Russian soldiers continue to practice a tactic that is as risky as it is questionable: the ‘camel tactic’. This tactic, first introduced by the Wagner mercenary company during the siege of Bakhmut between August 2022 and May 2023, involves an unarmed and unprotected soldier carrying mines, ammunition and other materials on foot to frontline troops.

Despite the dissolution of Wagner and the intensification of drone threats, this strategy continues to be used. The soldier chosen as a ‘camel’, laden with equipment, is forced to move rapidly across the battlefield, with no possibility of defending himself. Carrying weapons would unnecessarily burden him and have a purely symbolic value, since his task is solely to deliver the load, often at the cost of his life.

A bloody legacy

The ‘camel tactic’ had already shown all its danger during the taking of Bakhmut, one of the bloodiest campaigns of the war for Russia. According to Evgheny Prigozhin, former leader of Wagner, some 20,000 mercenaries had lost their lives, many of them due to snipers hitting defenceless carriers. Today, with the advent of remotely piloted FPV (First Person View) drones, this strategy has turned into a veritable suicide mission.

A video shot last Saturday near Toretsk, in the Donetsk region, and released by the 28th Ukrainian mechanised brigade, documents the tragic fate of one of these ‘camels’. The footage, accompanied by the soundtrack ‘Run to survive’, shows a Russian soldier attempting to cross a snowy field with a rucksack full of ammunition. Despite his efforts to zigzag between buildings, the soldier remains constantly in the crosshairs of a Ukrainian drone and is eventually shot by a sniper, alerted by the drone operators.

‘Cannon fodder’ against technology

Ukrainians do not hesitate to criticise this tactical choice, accusing Moscow of preferring to sacrifice men as ‘cannon fodder’ rather than risk losing valuable remotely controlled robotic assets such as UGVs (unmanned ground vehicles). The decision not to invest in advanced technologies reflects, according to analysts, an attitude of maximum economic savings at the expense of human life.

International condemnation

In this context, US President Donald Trump commented on the huge human losses suffered by Russia, reiterating the need for a peace agreement. ‘Russia has lost almost a million soldiers,’ Trump said, highlighting how this war is also causing devastating consequences for Moscow. ‘Putin needs to make a deal. Russia is facing huge economic problems and cannot be satisfied with the way things are going,’ he concluded.

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