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Russians did this tactics against Napoleon. It is flat country, so they effectively had to burn down half of their country.

In order to implement a defensive stance, a nation needs to be independent in the first place. It takes years even under the economy of a war to implement a defenses like this - more than enough time for a world power like Russia to prevent it.

The idea of Ukraine independent of Russia is new. It's pretty safe to say that the entire infrastructure in that country was built under Moscow's supervision. It was inconceivable to even think about a plan of defense against an invasion from Russia.