Russia's 'Second World War' Military Tactics Leaving Troops Vulnerable—U.K.

Russian troops are being left vulnerable by the military leadership's extensive use of tactics reminiscent of World War II, Britain's Ministry of Defence said on Friday.

In recent weeks, Russian forces have continued to construct extensive defensive positions along the front line, with the majority of its efforts likely focused around the town of Svatove in the Luhansk region.

Defensive lines built by Russia recently follow traditional military plans for entrenchment, "largely unchanged since the Second World War," the U.K. ministry said in its daily intelligence update on the war in Ukraine.

The defense ministry said such constructions haven't been used by the majority of Western armies in decades, and are likely to be vulnerable to modern, precision indirect strikes from Ukraine.

"The construction of major defensive lines is further illustration of Russia's reversion to positional warfare that has been largely abandoned by most modern Western militaries in recent decades," it said.

Russian troops have been digging elaborate trench systems throughout Ukraine as well as in Russia, in Belgorod, near the border in Ukraine, amid Russian fears that Ukraine could launch strikes on Russian territory.

In Kherson, Russian troops have been digging trenches and fortifying their positions in preparation for a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive in the eastern portion of the region, while the battle for the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut has largely descended into trench warfare.

And this week, adverts looking for Russian trench diggers have reportedly appeared on job listings websites.

Russian media channel Mozhem Obyasnit (We Can Explain) shared in a Telegram post several job listing websites that are looking for workers to dig trenches and other defense structures in the Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Belgorod regions.

"The StroyKom company is recruiting people, which, as stated on its website, built the Crimean bridge, Olympic facilities, and the Gazprom Lakhta Center. On sites with reviews about employers, you can find a lot of negative statements from workers: they live in army tents, conditions are bad, wages are delayed and not paid in full," Mozhem Obyasnit said in the Telegram post.

Ukrainian defense officials assessed this week that Russia could be preparing to launch a new offensive as soon as January 2023 that could involve a second attempt to seize the capital Kyiv.

"The Russians are preparing some 200,000 fresh troops. I have no doubt they will have another go at Kyiv," Ukrainian General Valery Zaluzhny was quoted as saying in an interview with The Economist on Thursday.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian foreign ministry for comment.

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