Russian troops are forced to use SHOVELS during hand-to-hand combat in Ukraine due to a shortage of ammunition as Putin continues to lose his grip on the war
- MoD said shovels like MPL 50 were likely tools used for hand-to-hand combat
- Usage of shovel as weapon ‘highlights brutal fighting come to characterise war’
- READ: Shocking pictures reveal Ukrainian city reduced to dystopian wasteland
Russian troops have been forced to use shovels during hand-to-hand combat in Ukraine due to a shortage of ammunition as Vladimir Putin continues to lose his grip on the war.
In the Ministry of Defence’s latest update on the situation in Ukraine, it revealed that Russian mobilised reservists said they were ordered to assault a Ukrainian concrete strong point armed with only ‘firearms and shovels’.
The MoD said the shovels like the MPL 50 were likely also the tools used for hand-to-hand combat.
A standard-issue MPL 50 shovel has the mythologised reputation in Russia of being particularly lethal.
The shovel design hasn’t changed much since its first introduction back in 1869. It is small and just 50cm (20in) in length.
In the Ministry of Defence’s latest update on the situation in Ukraine, it revealed that Russian mobilised reservists said they were ordered to assault a Ukrainian concrete strong point armed with only ‘firearms and shovels’. The MoD said the shovels like the MPL 50 were likely also the tools used for hand-to-hand combat (file image)
A standard-issue MPL 50 shovel has the mythologised reputation in Russia of being particularly lethal. The shovel design hasn’t changed much since its first introduction back in 1869. It is small and just 50cm (20in) in length (file image)
It was used by the military as a close combat weapon, for entrenching as well as an axe and hammer in the Russian Empire, then Soviet Union and then its successor states since its invention.
Soviet Spetsnaz units reportedly trained using the MPL 50 shovel for hand-to-hand combat fighting.
The MoD said the usage of the shovel as a weapon ‘highlights the brutal and low-tech fighting which has come to characterise much of the war’.
It added that one of the Russian reservists described being ‘neither physically nor psychologically’ prepared for the action.
Additionally, it said there is an increase in hand-to-hand combat in Ukraine.
It said that is likely because Putin keeps pushing for attacks by his infantry, even though they are short on ammunition.
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