Ukraine is rushing to complete multiple lines of defense that could stop a rapid Russian advance, but efforts have so far been marred by delays and lack of coordination, Ukrainian officials and commanders say. It is said that it has become.
Russian forces have made their fastest advance this year in the eastern Donetsk region, pushing their front lines westward and in some places as close as 15 kilometers (15 kilometers) from the border with neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. If President Vladimir Putin’s soldiers cross that line, it would be the first time they have invaded new parts of Ukraine since 2022, dealing a significant blow to Kiev’s war effort.
“The situation in the fortifications is another factor contributing to low military morale,” said Dmytro Razumkov, a former ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and currently a member of a parliamentary committee investigating delays in defense construction and allegations of corruption. he said.
“Funding is spread out across all regions and everyone is building their own. We need accountability for quality, planning, how these positions will be transferred to whom and who will oversee them. There is no one to blame,” he said.
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According to a Freedom of Information request, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast spent $7.3 million on fortifications from November 2023 to November 2024.
But two officials involved in construction in the area said there was little bang for the buck and efforts only picked up speed about two months ago.
A Financial Times reporter who visited an area in the Dnipropetrovsk region near Donetsk last month saw several prepared positions and anti-tank trenches, but also unfinished positions that were still under construction or abandoned. I saw some.
The current focus of Russian attacks is around the logistics hub of Pokrovsk, which has three main roads leading to the cities of Krahov and Velika Novosilka, as well as the Dnipropetrovsk region and the city itself.
If Russian troops entered Dnipropetrovsk, the area would be home to military headquarters, military support units, volunteers and drone manufacturers, and would significantly disrupt the war effort in Kiev, the most populous city outside the capital. I would.
An official told the FT in late November that Velika Novosirka had fallen. The official said construction of a fortification was underway to prevent Russia from taking control of the highway.
Nazar Voloshin, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Eastern Army, said last week that the town remained under Ukrainian control after Russian troops were pushed back from the northern suburbs.
Voloshin added that although Velika Novoshirka has become Russia’s main target, the deployed forces do not appear to be large enough to launch an attack on Dnipropetrovsk or other areas.
The head of fortification construction in the region told the FT that most of the Donetsk region’s defense line, including around the main city, was completed in late October.
However, they said there were still gaps between Velika Novosirka and Krakhofe and between Krakhofe and Pokrovsk that endangered the Dnipropetrovsk region. There, the second line of fortifications is still under construction, and the third line has not yet been laid down.
“The fighting is extremely dangerous for the builders and the direction of attack is constantly changing,” they said. Workers were slowed down by drone and artillery fire and had to wear heavy body armor. “If they launch an attack on the Dnipropetrovsk region, we will be under threat from yet another direction.”
Apartment complex damaged by Russian missiles in a town in the Dnipropetrovsk region © Mykola Synelnykov/Reuters
Military analyst Rob Lee said Russia’s military engineers have long had an advantage in building fortifications at a higher rate and quality compared to Ukraine.
He said Russia was able to advance quickly after capturing the Donetsk town of Vledal because Ukraine “clearly did not build strong defenses behind it” and forced Ukrainian troops to withdraw. added.
Lee said Russia’s superior fortifications include concrete mazes and well-constructed tree-lined defensive positions that made it possible to thwart a Ukrainian counterattack in the summer of 2023. The Ukrainian military “will benefit from the establishment of sufficient (defensive) positions in which the troops are able,” he said. ,” Lee said, including in the town.
He said Ukraine’s labor shortage was exacerbating the problem. “As long as the problem worsens, (Ukraine) is at risk. . . Units will not be able to fill the gap.”
One infantry commander, who works for a construction company where he and his employees built military fortifications before mobilization, said the line of defense remains a low priority.
His troops moved 32 times during the war, each time having to build their own defensive positions and raise funds. Meanwhile, second and third lines were often built in the wrong locations or too far from the first line, often without consulting the military.
Another problem, the commander said, was that environmental laws limit the number of trees that can be felled. “The Russians are cutting down our trees left and right, so we can’t use them to build trenches!?”
“We saw the fortifications that the Russians built on our land. If we had done the same, things like Pokrovsk would not have happened,” he said.
Razumkov said construction of the fortress was initially delayed because the presidential administration believed that Ukraine would retake more territory by 2023. After Ukraine’s failed counterattack in November of the same year, a lack of coordination and some corruption led to further delays, he added.
Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies have opened 30 criminal investigations into suspected embezzlement, with an estimated total loss of $483 million, a parliamentary committee spokesperson said.
Stanislav Buniatov, commander of the assault battalion, said fortifications are also important to provide a retreat base for exhausted infantry. “The combat capability of infantry fighters will be reduced to zero if they have to spend energy building positions during the day, especially in winter,” he said.
Ideally, Buniatov said, maintenance of the fortifications would be handled by Ukraine’s version of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a centralized surveillance force that can patrol the front lines and plan and control the work.
However, Ukraine’s sapper units are severely understaffed, so the responsibility lies with the local authorities, which use infantry brigades as contractors, with a small number of sappers supervising work on the first line of defense. .
Adding to their anger, many military engineers are being redeployed to fill front-line vacancies, as they are officially classified as “rear forces.”
Things will go well if military engineers “do their job professionally, digging trenches and preparing lines and borders so that we can defend ourselves, rather than being sent on offensive operations.” “I guess so,” Buniatov said. “Currently, the system is either not working at all or working only marginally.”
