How trench-digging story reported by Western press is interpreted in Russia

A recent BBC Russia report suggested Russian companies have posted job ads on a job portal, seeking workers to build trenches and infrastructure to fend off tank and infantry attacks in Kursk, a border region reportedly facing a major Ukrainian incursion.

Other media organisations in the West quickly picked up on the purported job ads, suggesting that things might not be going smoothly for Moscow in the Kursk region, which is reportedly embattling Ukraine’s surprising incursion.

Shortly after the story was published widely from CNN to Newsweek, Russian job portal Avito removed the ads purportedly posted by various construction companies. The company said it needed to verify whether those ads were posted by legitimate sources and that it was also in touch with the Ministry of Construction and Ministry of Defense. Until the verification was completed, Avito said, such announcements would remain “hidden from the platform”.

But Avito also noted the companies posting trench-digger ads have a clean record and that “their accounts were not previously compromised”, according to Kommersant, a Russian media outlet.

However, prior to the company’s announcement, Kursk Oblast’s local authorities called such ads “fake” saying that they have “enough workers in the region”. In an interview with Fontanka, a Russian media outlet, a Kursk official added “when we are looking for employees, we do it through other channels," denying that such job ads would be posted on public networks like Avito.

The Kursk government statement, whose link can not be accessed anymore, is interesting in its context, which has not denied that there is an ongoing task in the region to build trenches and fortifications against Ukrainian incursion.

But for people living in Russia, there is a concerted effort made by Western media organisations to misrepresent the job ads as Russia’s weakness on the war frontlines.

Mete Doguoglu, a 56-year-old Moscow-based businessman, who runs a construction company, says he doubts other construction companies would post ads for trench-diggers for war purposes.

“It’s a clear gaslighting on part of Western media,” he tells TRT World.

A pro-Russian telegram channel also disputed Western media accounts on trench-digging company ads in the Kursk region, appearing on the Avito bulletin board. “Most of these ‘vacancies’ are opened by Ukrainian Centers for Information and Psychological Operations with the purpose of collecting personal data and spreading panic rumours”, the channel claimed.

According to the BBC report, satellite images showed that Russia is building new defence lines resembling trenches around the Kursk nuclear power plant, a strategic location, which Ukraine aims to claim.

If the clashes in the Kursk region are truly transforming into a full- fledged trench warfare, what does it signify from a military standpoint?

Lessons from Leningrad and Stalingrad

Trench warfare has long been part of military engagements and an army digs trenches to slow or stop advances of hostile forces across areas near its own forces or allies if it is not able to repel enemy units in an immediate sense, according to experts.

“The evacuations of residents from Kursk and also nearby regions like Belgorod, as well as reports of Russia advertising for trench diggers, signals that Moscow is concerned over further Ukrainian advances into its territory,” says Eugene Chausovsky, a defence expert and a senior director on analytical development and training at New Lines Institute.

In both Kursk and Belgrod regions, Russia declared a federal emergency, signalling the grave security dilemma the Kremlin faces. Moscow declared the emergency in Belgrod a week after its emergency declaration in neighbouring Kursk under Ukrainian attack.

"The situation in the region remains complex and tense. As a result of terrorist attacks by Ukrainian armed groups in the Belgorod region, residential houses and infrastructure facilities have been damaged, there are dead and injured citizens," said the Russian emergency ministry yesterday.

“The current situation in the Kursk region is quite notable in that Ukrainian forces were not only able to break through Russian defences and enter into Russia proper, but that they have also been able to hold and expand territorial control within the region for more than one week,” Chausovsky tells TRT World.

Edward Erickson, a former American military officer and a retired professor of military history from the Department of War Studies at the Marine Corps University, defines such developments as “combat multipliers in defensive combat”.

“A soldier fighting from a trench is far more effective than a soldier in the open. Trenches provide a survivability advantage and save lives,” the professor tells TRT World.

He also thinks that Moscow can deploy civilian workers to build these trenches in the border area of Kursk.

“There is a long Soviet tradition and history of using civilian labour to construct field fortifications and trenches. Especially Leningrad and Stalingrad in 1942 come to mind,” he says.

“Soviet civilians were mobilised to dig trenches and obstacles to slow the Germans. So this is well within Russian memory and should appeal to the Russian people,” he adds.

Can Ukraine advance further?

Both Erickson and Chausovsky find it difficult for Ukrainian forces to make further gains in Kursk and Belgrod.

“While it is possible that Ukraine’s incursion can go further into Russian territory in the short term, Kiev has lost the element of surprise that made the initial incursion successful,” says Chausovsky. The arrival of Russian reinforcements and the building of fortifications around Kursk and Belgrod will make Ukrainian forces “face much stiffer resistance and pushback”, he adds.

“I don't think Ukraine will go much farther. The Ukrainians have created a salient (or bulge) into the Russian lines which they will have to defend when their offensive is halted,” says Erickson. His use of the military term salient, which refers to a fragile situation where a force is surrounded by enemy groups from multiple sides, is interesting.

During WWII, Soviet Union forces, which occupied the situation of salient in the Kursk region at the time, were surrounded by Nazi Germany. That military engagement is called the Battle of Kursk and now some experts have already called the current fighting the Second Battle of Kursk.

“I'm not sure any outsider knows what's happening in the tactical area of Ukraine's offensive. Commanders tend to reinforce success. We don't know if the depth and scale of Ukraine's penetration was planned in advance or if Ukrainian commanders simply reinforced success by sending in more forces,” adds the military analyst.

According to Moscow, Ukrainians control 28 settlements in Russian territory as of August 12 while Kiev claims to control 74 settlements.

At the end of the day, Ukrainian incursion boosted its national morale in the face of recent setbacks the country’s army has faced in different areas in the east. Kiev has shown “its military capabilities”, potentially increasing its negotiation power at possible ceasefire talks, says Chausovsky.