"Russians are digging their own grave"
Russia has been reporting significant advances in eastern Ukraine for several days. The Russian Defence Ministry recently stated that this advance on the battlefield was due to "a special tactic".
"The soldiers of the detachment covertly drilled and used a more than 3-kilometre-long tunnel along the Seversky Donets canal and penetrated to the back of a well-strengthened stronghold with long-range firing positions and underground shelters," the Russian Defence Ministry said. This allowed the attacking forces to be supplied with food, weapons and ammunition. The ministry added that this particular tactic, which relied on the element of surprise, enabled the Russian army to make advances, forcing the enemy to retreat or surrender.
In autumn 2023, other tunnels of the same type were discovered by Ukrainian troops during fighting in the town of Avdiivka. A spokesman for a Ukrainian army brigade said, "They dig them close to our positions. Firstly, this allows them to hide. Secondly, they can then emerge unexpectedly close to our positions". A tactic that did not convince Vitaliy Barabash, head of the Avdiivka military administration. He felt that the Russian soldiers were digging "three or four metres before they were bombed", that in a sense they were "digging their own grave".
Be that as it may, after fierce fighting, the town of Avdiïvka is now in Russian hands. But that doesn't mean the tunnels had in any case anything to do with it...
(SR and Manon Pierre for Tagtik/Source: La Dépêche/Illustration: Unsplash)
