While the Ukrainian Defense Forces are dealing with the consequences of delaying the construction of own fortifications, it becomes all the more relevant to take a closer look at the russian branch of the military, responsible for digging, building, and engineering. Especially since they managed to create defense lines formidable enough to make the Ukrainian counteroffensive of summer 2023 challenging.
The Polish website Defence24 has released a whole in-depth article dedicated to this topic, Defense Express only provides key points from it, relevant to our problem.
Read more: Ukraine Lacking a Fortified Line of Defense is a Problem, and It Must be Solved Quick
Engineering troops have grown in numbers
Since the beginning of the so-called "partial mobilization" in autumn 2022, the russian armed forces formed up five new engineering regiments which were labeled 88th through 92nd, accordingly. A year later, the presence of all these units was recorded in Ukraine, Defence24 notes.
Additionally, there has been the process of establishing "volunteer battalions" since 2022. Apart from combat units made up this way, engineering units were among them, too, they later merged into the regular army of russia. Professional military engineers get their education mainly at the Tyumen Higher Military Engineer Command School where veterans of the war in Ukraine share their practical experience with the cadets.
On a note from Defense Express, according to The Military Balance 2023, as of the beginning of last year, the russian armed forces had four engineering brigades and seven engineering regiments plus a special pontoon crossing brigade.
Tactics and priorities have changed
Our Polish colleagues note that in 2022, engineering brigades were mostly involved in supporting offensive operations in Ukraine, while in 2023 they generally focused on defensive preparations, particularly on preventing the Ukrainian advance during the counteroffensive in the southern part of the country.
Specifically, the engineering troops were split into tactical-level task groups. Apart from setting up pontoon crossings, these units also supported the combat force right on the battlefield. For instance, there were episodes when UR-77 Meteorit demining systems used their explosive charges to shell Ukrainian positions in the urban areas, like in this archive video from Mariupol, published in April 2022:
Notably, so far russian engineering forces mostly used old equipment, like the IMR-2, IMR-3M, and BAT-2 vehicles for earthworks and obstacle clearing, PP-2005 and TMM-3 pontoon bridges; one of the few modern systems is the ISDM Zemledeliye remote minelayer.
On the other hand, the heavily-advertised advanced equipment, for example, the Kleshch-G minelaying system, BMR-3MA demining system, or its robotic version called Prokhod-1, UBIM multipurpose engineering vehicle based on T-72B3 chassis, all of these are nowhere to be seen.
Read more: Why russians Set Up Mega-Train Barricade in Eastern Ukraine
