Russian troops in Ukraine sent to fight with ‘firearms and shovels’: UK intel
- The shovels are believed to be the MPL-50 entrenching tool, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said
- Britain says order showed the ‘brutal and low-tech fighting’ that now characterises the war in Ukraine
Russian soldiers are being ordered to fight Ukrainian forces with only “firearms and shovels,” the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.
An intelligence briefing from the UK Ministry of Defence details that Russian reservists were ordered to “assault a Ukrainian concrete strong point armed with only firearms and shovels” in February 2023.
“The ‘shovels’ are likely entrenching tools being employed for hand-to-hand combat,” the briefing said.
It is thought that the “shovels” in question are the renowned MPL-50 entrenching tools first designed in 1869.
Soviet special forces used it in close-quarters combat and as throwing weapons. The MPL-50 as a weapon had been “mythologised” in Russia, said the UK Ministry of Defence.
Using the entrenching tool, “little changed since it was designed in 1869,” highlighted the brutal and low-tech fighting which has come to characterise the year-long war between Russia and Ukraine, said the British.
The increase in hand-to-hand combat in Ukraine was due to a declining number of troops, artillery, and munition, it said.