White concrete barriers and coils of barbed wire stretch across a field more than a square kilometer in size. Trenches with rudimentary living quarters are being dug in the darkness. Artillery booms rumble not far away.
Military analysts say such defense systems have some similarities to those deployed in Russia-occupied southern and eastern Ukraine, aimed at helping Ukraine fend off attacks and rebuild its forces as Russia takes the initiative on the battlefield.
A Ukrainian army fortification on the front line. Photo: Reuters
“As soon as the army moves, across the fields, you can do without fortifications. But when the army stops, you need to dig right into the ground,” said a Ukrainian military engineer nicknamed Lynx near Kupiansk.
On November 28, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the country was "significantly strengthening" its fortifications after a counteroffensive launched in June failed to quickly break through Russian lines.
Kiev says it has not changed its ambition to retake all remaining occupied territory, but is now focusing on politically sensitive conscription reforms to replenish manpower and address artillery shortages at the front.
Russia has stepped up offensive pressure around eastern towns such as Kupiansk, Lyman and Avdiivka, military analysts say.
Mr. Zelenskyy said that Ukraine's defense structures need to be strengthened and their construction work needs to be accelerated in the eastern part of the Donetsk region and in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Kiev, Rivne and Volyn regions.
These areas stretch from eastern Ukraine, along the borders with Russia and Belarus, to its western ally Poland. President Zelenskyy said the southern Kherson region, which remains under occupation, would also be reinforced.
There is no public data on the intensity or scale of the fortifications.
Jack Watling, a senior researcher in land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute, said stronger fortifications would slow the Russian advance and draw fewer Ukrainian forces into the defence, freeing them up from the front so they could train further.
“The Ukrainians are now on the defensive because their offensive has reached its peak,” he said in a telephone interview, adding that Russia had regained the initiative on the battlefield and could choose where to attack.
As Ukraine's artillery arsenal dwindles, Russia's casualty rate has also dropped, making it easier for Moscow to form new units, which could allow them to open new attack lines over time, he added.
“On the Ukrainian side, they are trying to minimise their own casualties but also rebuild their offensive fighting power,” Watling said, adding that the fortifications could also be used to protect Ukraine’s flanks if it went back on the offensive.
“When the civilians finish their work (building positions), we will lay mines,” Serhiy Naev, commander of the Ukrainian joint force overseeing the northern military zone, told reporters at the scene. The Ukrainian military has expanded its defensive fortifications in the north by 63 percent in the past few months.
Mai Van (according to Reuters)
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