Russian reservists are likely using “shovels” for “hand-to-hand” combat in Ukraine due to a shortage of ammunition, the UK’s Ministry of Defence says.
In late February, reservists described being ordered to assault a Ukrainian position “armed with only ‘firearms and shovels'”, the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.
It mentioned a shovel known as MPL-50.
The tool was designed in 1869 and had changed little, the ministry said.
“The lethality of the standard-issue MPL-50 entrenching tool is particularly mythologised in Russia,” the ministry said.
#Ukraine: A Russian T-72B obr. 2022 was destroyed by the Ukrainian army near Marinka, #Donetsk Oblast – this is the first confirmed loss of this new "modernization".
Another T-72B obr. 2022 was also damaged and abandoned nearby. pic.twitter.com/ZQnD2qfU0J
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 5, 2023
