@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/ At least 14 seriously injured soldiers who were preparing to be invalided out of the Russian army have abruptly been declared fit, despite being on crutches and in plaster casts, and have been sent to an assault squad, according to their relatives. ⬇️
2/ The men are from Russia's Chelyabinsk region and have sustained a variety of injuries which should make them unfit for service. Relatives of several of them have spoken to the ASTRA news service about their situation.
3/ One of them, a man named Aleksandr Krug, has a paralysed right hand for which he was initially treated in a hospital in Chelyabinsk before being sent back to Ukraine to a reserve battalion. He has already received a state award and a veteran's certificate.
1/ Russian murderers, rapists and pedophiles are effectively being offered the chance to commit a crime and escape punishment if they sign a military contract before they go to court. The Russian police are also receiving bonuses for sending detainees to join the army. ⬇️
2/ 'Mobilisation News' reports that leaflets are being distributed at bus stops in Russia's Novosibirsk region. They emphasise that one can avoid responsibility for crimes and earn a bonus payment of 2 million rubles ($25,000) by joining the army.
3/ The leaflet reads:
"After signing a contract for military service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation by a person suspected or accused of committing a crime, criminal prosecution is suspended on the basis of a request from the command of the military unit."
1/ Russian warbloggers are angrily denouncing as a "black widow" a woman who appears to be boasting in a video of how profitable it is to marry a soldier in anticipation of his death. ⬇️
2/ A 27-year-old woman from Tyumen called Anastasia A. says in the video:
"He goes to the Special Military Operation, I register the children in his name, we are such a "happy couple", I receive a one-time payment of 5 million, I receive a monthly payment of 200-300,000."
3/ "Plus consider what a fucking windfall it is: kindergarten, fuck – benefits, school – benefits. Monthly payment as the wife of a serviceman. Fuck, we will live well, fuck, we will go to the sea. Why do you think my children are traveling around Abkhazia...
1/ Donetsk and Luhansk's catastrophic water shortage is being caused by the Russian invasion's destruction of a 70-year-old canal. Russian sources say it can't be restored until the end of the decade at the earliest, even if Russia captures the source in Ukrainian territory. ⬇️
2/ The occupied east of Ukraine is a naturally arid region, with no large rivers. This proved a challenge to the industrialists who built the region's coal and iron mines in the 19th century. Industrial activity severely depleted the region's groundwater.
3/ To allow for a big expansion in the region's industry, the Soviet Union embarked on a project in 1955-58 to build a canal 133.4 km (89.9 miles) in length to bring water from the Siverskyi Donets river in the north of the region to Yasynuvata near Donetsk city.
1/ A senior Russian officer was reportedly killed by his own men after boasting that he would be promoted for sending them to die in assaults, and declaring that he would bring funeral notices to their families and "fuck their wives". He allegedly profited from their deaths. ⬇️
2/ In November 2024, the Russian army announced that Colonel Yevgeny Borisovich Ladnov had "died near Luhansk near Kreminna as a result of artillery shelling on 10 November 2024." He was the commander of the 19th Tank Regiment (military unit 12322).
3/ A man who served under Ladnov, Junior Sergeant Andrey Mikhailovich Perevoshchikov, has given an account of what he says happened to the colonel. According to Perevoshchikov, Ladnov was deliberately sending his men to their deaths en masse and told them so in blunt terms:
1/ Ryazan has become the latest Russian region to introduce bounties for citizens who find recruits to join the Russian army. The initiative has raised concerns that slaves and vulnerable people will be 'sold' to the army for profit, as has already happened in some cases. ⬇️
2/ The 7x7 news outlet reports that the Ryazan regional authorities have approved the introduction of payments to those who attract people to sign a military contract. Recruitment of a local resident will be rewarded with a bounty of 57,500 rubles ($718).
3/ A resident of another region is worth 344,800 rubles ($4,000) and a foreigner is worth 80,500 ($1,062). Government workers and those who are already employed as military recruiters are excluded from the bounty programme. Contracts must be signed by the end of 2025.