Satellites have taken pictures of trenches and other obstacles over the past few months. For example, concrete barriers called “dragon teeth”.
The Russians are intensively building them in anticipation of the long-announced Ukrainian counter-offensive.
“The Russians dug into the deep defensive lines. Their troops also created a lot of different and quite advanced minefields in Ukraine,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently said about trench warfare.
The very concept of trench warfare reminds many of the battlefields of the First World War. Retired US Army officer John Spencer claims trenches are still “a very effective ground-holding tactic”. This is so, even if they are not used as often as they were in the last century.
Guy McCardle, editor-in-chief of SOFREP (Special Operations Forces Report), adds that he is not at all surprised that a network of Russian trenches is expanding throughout Ukraine. The front lines, meanwhile, remain mostly static.
“Trench warfare is being waged by both sides in this conflict. Neither the Russians nor the Ukrainians can advance at the moment, and they don’t want to retreat either. It is like the First World War. If you have a little superior force, you don’t really have a choice. You can only try to bomb the enemy. This has largely turned into a Polish artillery war in Ukraine. In it, trenches are fired at from a distance, and that’s a terrible way to fight,” said McCardle.
Unlike the First World War, today’s armies have drones.
“Unmanned aerial vehicles can really complicate trench warfare. Units in trenches can still be turned into additional concealment methods. One of them is heavy netting so that drones don’t detect them. But once trench positions are located, the army becomes very vulnerable and much more exposed to enemy fire. That is why Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is asking the West for fighter jets. “They could give him an incredibly important weapon to target Putin’s army,” says Spencer.
Russia has been struggling with recruiting new soldiers into its ranks for some time. Trench warfare in Ukraine could soon take on a new, even more difficult dimension.
