@solonko1648, who's a serving Ukrainian soldier, has published an excellent pair of threads in Ukrainian describing how the Russian system of trenches and firing positions works. It's a very helpful insight into why they have been so difficult to overcome.
He focuses on a Russian fortified stronghold between the villages of Robotyne and Novoprokopivka, through which the road from one village to the other runs. Tokmak lies further along the same road, which is currently contested. The following thread translates his description:
By @solonko1648:
This, dear friends, is one of the most difficult strongholds located in the Robotyne-Novoprokopivka area. A complex system of trenches-tunnels, dugouts, firing positions, to which the Russian invaders cling with all their might... 🧵 /1
What we see first. A system of trenches and firing positions. From observation and tracking of the movements of the occupiers' equipment and personnel, we confirm movement and approach routes to the position. /2
In general, these routes should be obvious, but of course, all the data should be studied and the information verified. That's why this is a formal process. Next, we see from above how these positions are equipped. We see the overlapping of dugouts. /3
But that's not all. Some of the trenches are covered over for a long distance. They may not be tunnels in the classical sense, but technically they are. This is actually a trench-tunnel, designed to hide the number of personnel and their movements in the trenches. /4
With the help of aerial reconnaissance, we determine not only which route the occupiers take to enter/leave. We also identify the entrances/exits of this stronghold/trench system. /5
A little more about the "tunnels". According to the soldiers of the frontline units, there is a classic tunnel here. It's under the road that leads from Robotyne to Novoprokopivka. It connects both flanks of this system. /6
Moreover, we also know that dugouts have been dug here, which actually have a second underground floor, going deep into the ground. While we were waiting for the shells, the occupiers were digging. And they dug long and deep. /7
After fierce fighting and artillery shelling, our artillery "opened" the dugouts and covered trenches. After that, it became clearer how much more difficult the task was. 8/
Furthermore, in the area where the main entrance to these positions is located from the west, it is only after a dense artillery barrage that the untrained eye will become aware of how well some of the trench-tunnels on this side were camouflaged. /9
The occupiers successfully used the forest belt to prepare and camouflage these positions. Such positions require us to conduct very thorough and vigilant reconnaissance. The occupiers know what we are interested in and try prevent us from conducting it properly. /10
You can watch the process in this video. /11
Now I will talk about the eastern part of the fortification. /12
It is not so much a separate fortified point as part of an extensive system, overcoming which was an extremely difficult task, taking into account the features of the hostilities, the terrain and the ratio of forces and means that I talked about. /13
The two main parts of the fortifications are connected by an underground tunnel that runs under the road. This way, the road is controlled and still used for its intended purpose. /14
Note the shape of the trench in front of the forest plantation (except for the area near the road). We have already seen a similar structure on the defence line that stretched northwest of Verbove. /15
Also note another example of the use of terrain. The system of fortifications uses the plantation to cover the entrance and exit. There are also fortifications in the rear. A circular defence pattern is observed. /16
Here, too, the artillery of the Ukrainian Armed Forces performed the task of "opening" the trenches built in the style of tunnels. A similar picture could be seen in the western part of these fortifications on the other side of the road, which I analysed earlier. /17
Also note the layout of the trenches closer to the road. Imagine what it would be like to storm/clear them. Another sceptical remark to the adherents of "elastic defence". No one was going to leave here even to return. They clung to this stronghold with all their might. /18
And then there's the wormhole. Another reminder that some people like to call the Russian invaders worms. /19
1/ Wounded Russian soldiers are being ordered to crawl into battle if they cannot walk. "You’re still meat, no one gives a shit about you," they have been told by their commander, according to relatives. The men are now missing, and their relatives want Vladimir Putin to help. ⬇️
2/ A number of female relatives of missing men have posted an 'appeal to the Tsar' video on social media. They are complaining about what has happened to their loved ones and appeal personally to Putin to intervene on their behalf against the Russian bureaucracy.
3/ Their account helps to explain why so many crippled Russian soldiers have recently been filmed on the battlefield. It appears to be the result of chronic shortages of manpower and casual brutality, with men being used as "meat probes" in minefields.
1/ The conviction of former General Ivan Popov has produced a vehement reaction from Russian warbloggers, who denounce it as unjustified. Although he has been sentenced to five years' imprisonment and loss of rank, Popov may yet go back to fight again in Ukraine. ⬇️
2/ Popov has been in detention since May 2024 on charges of fraudulently appropriating and selling 1,700 tons of rolled metal structures intended for use in building defensive structures on the front line. He argued that it was scrap metal which he sold to aid his troops.
3/ He was also charged with falsification of official documents relating to the metal parts. His former deputy, the late Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov, was also implicated. A businessman, Sergei Moiseyev, was sentenced to four years in prison and fined 400,000 rubles ($4,800).
1/ A catastrophic explosion at a Russian arsenal may have taken place while an ammunition train was being loaded or unloaded. Images from the depot show ammunition stacked in the open, while its bunkers seem to have been poorly protected.
2/ Triangulation of videos showing the initial explosion suggests that it took place at the very centre of the arsenal near Kirzhach (coordinates 56.101466125876044, 38.74729263195981), where satellite images show a rail loading/unloading facility.
3/ New satellite images released today show that the most heavily impacted area of the arsenal is centred on the rail loading/unloading facility, which may support the hypothesis of an accident with an ammunition train.
1/ Ukrainians are scamming millions of rubles a day from Russians and directing the proceeds to fund the Ukrainian armed forces, according to Russian investigators. They accuse the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) of being behind the scam operations. ⬇️
2/ Russian journalist and warblogger Anastasia Kashevarova has posted on her Telegram channel the results of an investigation by SNOS Call Centre, a group which is dedicated to countering Ukrainian scam operations against Russian citizens.
3/ The scams are said to be organised like regular businesses, complete with offices, employees, HR managers and corporate policies. Kashevarova cites the example of a concern called Strongcall, which operates in Kyiv and several other Ukrainian cities.
1/ Two Russian policemen who were sent to Ukraine after being found guilty of killing two teenage girls with an axe have both died there, according to Russian sources. ⬇️
2/ The two men, Dmitry Istomin and Yevgeny Inkin, committed the double murder in the Selenginsky District of Buryatia in 2002, but were not caught until 2019.
3/ 17-year-old Evgenia Shekunova and 18-year-old Ekaterina Pateyuk were found stripped to their underwear and chopped up with an axe at an area called Klyukvennaya Pad, two weeks after going missing.
1/ The 51st GRAU arsenal near Moscow, which exploded spectacularly today, was the target of a massive theft in 2017 which 646 million rubles ($7.9m) out of a 1.3 billion ruble ($16m) budget were stolen from a modernisation programme. ⬇️
2/ These photos show the interior of the arsenal in happier times; the drone footage above was filmed in 2017 during a press tour. The Russian authorities say that the explosion was due to "safety violations" and are setting up a commission of inquiry to investigate it.
3/ In October 2017, the FSB opened a criminal investigation into Spetsmontazh LLC, a company which had been given a 1.3 billion ruble contract by the Russian Ministry of Defence in 2013 to carry out construction and maintenance work at the arsenal. It was paid in advance.