Rows of concrete barricades and lines of barbed wire have begun to appear along the Ukrainian-held front as Kyiv’s armed forces move to the defensive after last year’s long-awaited offensive failed, Reuters reports.

Trenches and rudimentary shelters are being built under the cover of night, and artillery fire can be heard nearby. New defensive lines erected late last year near the city of Kupyansk in northeastern Ukraine show how Ukrainian engineers have stepped up their efforts to fortify the front as the military command in Kyiv has taken a more defensive stance.

The defense lines are somewhat reminiscent of those built by the Russian military in the south and east of Ukraine as part of the so-called “Surovikin Line”, named after its architect, General Serhiy Surovikin, a former invasion force commander who has since fallen into disrepute due to his proximity to mercenaries. Wagner.

Military analysts say that the defensive lines built by the Ukrainian army in recent months are necessary given that Moscow’s forces have seized the initiative at the front.

“As soon as the troops move, cross the fields, you can do without fortifications. But when the troops stop, you must immediately dig into the ground,” a Ukrainian engineer nicknamed “Lynx” told Reuters.

On December 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the rapid construction of fortifications after an offensive launched by Kyiv in June failed to decisively break through Russian lines.

Ukraine’s leadership says it has not changed its goal of liberating all Russian-controlled territory, but is currently focusing on replenishing ammunition stocks and reforming the registration system, a politically sensitive issue after nearly two years of war.

Ukraine is building fortifications on the entire eastern part of the front

Meanwhile, Russia has stepped up its attacks around cities such as Kupyansk, Lyman and Avdiyivka, taking advantage of the fact that it no longer needs to hold a large part of its forces in reserve, fearing a possible breakthrough created by the Ukrainian offensive.

Zelenskyi said that it is necessary to strengthen and speed up Ukrainian defense around three cities, in the eastern regions of Donetsk region and in Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Rivne and Volyn regions.

The territories listed by Zelenskyi stretch almost throughout the eastern part of Ukraine, along the border with Russia and Belarus, to the border with Poland.

At the same time, the Ukrainian president said that the defense in the Kherson region in the south of the country will also be strengthened.

Although there is no public data on the level or intensity of construction work, Ukraine has erected defensive lines in some areas of Donbas since 2014, when pro-Russian separatists ignited a bloody conflict there after Moscow occupied and annexed Crimea.

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian troops have been defending strong lines in areas of the front such as Avdiyivka.

The Ukrainian army is trying to restore its forces

Military analyst Jack Watling of the Royal Joint Forces Institute says stronger fortifications will help slow down Russian forces and free some Ukrainian forces from defensive duties so they can, for example, receive additional training.

“The Ukrainians are now moving to a more defensive position as their offensive has passed its peak,” he told Reuters in a phone interview, adding that Russia has regained the initiative on the battlefield and can choose where to attack.

Watling also notes that in the conditions of reduced ammunition stocks in Ukraine, as well as the level of losses of the Russian army, it is easier for the military command in Moscow to create new units that open new directions of attack.

“On the Ukrainian side, they are trying to minimize their own losses, but also to restore offensive combat power,” says a military analyst. He also says that fortifications built by Ukrainian engineers can be used to protect the flanks of a new offensive when Ukraine has the opportunity to launch it.

In the Chernihiv region in northeastern Ukraine, trenches were dug with the help of an excavator and a shovel on Wednesday, Reuters reports from the scene.

“When the civilians complete their work (the number of construction positions), we will come and clear the mines,” said the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the cloudy sector of the country, Serhiy Naev, adding that the defensive lines of the fortifications have been extended here. from 63% in recent months.

Ukrainian defenders also resorted to “dragon’s teeth”

“[Lucrările sunt în desfășurare] throughout the Northern operational area. These works are being carried out in Sumy Oblast, Chernihiv Oblast, in the direction of Kyiv,” said Nayev. “Concrete structures, barbed wire (…) “dragon’s teeth” will be mined. They will be a solid concrete obstacle for armored vehicles,” he explained.

Dragon’s Teeth are small reinforced concrete fortifications first built during World War II to counter tanks and mechanized infantry. Their purpose was to slow down combat vehicles and “bring” them to specially prepared areas where they could be easily attacked by anti-tank weapons. The Russian military began building such obstacles in the fall of 2022.

An engineer nicknamed “The Lizard” told Reuters that “dragon’s teeth” are usually deployed first, followed by barbed wire and then landmines, if they are used.

“I believe that most of these obstacles should have been built much earlier, probably in the spring (last year – not). It takes too much time,” he added.

A few hundred meters behind the “dragon’s teeth” work also began on expanding the network of communication trenches equipped with shelters and wooden beds.

“Rys” and other servicemen who spoke to Reuters journalists say that Ukrainian forces try to use mines only where they are needed, so as not to leave dangerous ammunition on their own territory.

“This is our land! We would not like to fill it with so much garbage,” he said.

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