Ukraine Announces Extensive Strengthening Of Frontline Defensive Fortifications

Ukraine intends to extend and strengthen its defensive fortifications after seeing how the Russians' defenses thwarted offensive operations this summer. 

The announcement is likely to make it even harder for attempted Russian advances, which have largely failed, with huge casualty rates, and may then enable Ukraine, which has preserved more offensive capabilities than the Russians, to take advantage of opportunistic targets without surrendering gains. JL 

Matthew Luxmoore reports in the Wall Street Journal:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered the construction of an extensive network of fortifications. The focus would be the east and northeast, including Lyman, Kupiansk and Avdiivka, where Russia has sought to advance for months at heavy cost. Kherson is another area that must be strengthened. Fortifications would also be built in the Kyiv region along with areas that border Russia and Belarus. The fortifications closest to the front would be built by service members, while the second and third lines of defense would be the responsibility of the Infrastructure Ministry, with private companies. Russia’s deep and extensive fortifications impeded Ukraine's summer counteroffensive.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered the construction of an extensive network of fortifications aimed at holding back Russian forces, signaling a switch to the defensive posture after a monthslong Ukrainian counteroffensive yielded only small gains.

Zelensky’s message in a video address late Thursday is the clearest official acknowledgment that Ukraine faces a hard winter defending the territory it holds, with little immediate prospect of major advances against the nearly 20% of its land occupied by Russia. Instead, as the war approaches a third year, Ukraine is digging in just as winter starts to bite, with Russia pursuing grinding military offensives in the east and northeast.

Zelensky’s announcement came after a day traveling the northeast and southeast for meetings with military commanders and soldiers, as well as a tour of schools operating from underground bomb shelters and subway stations because of the threat of Russian shelling.

One meeting, he said, concerned fortifications “on all the main fronts, where we need to dig in, speed up the pace of construction.” He said the focus would be the east and northeast, where Russia has sought to advance for months, achieving small gains at heavy cost. But he also noted that fortifications should be built in the Kyiv region along with others that border Russia and Belarus, from where Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Ukrainian summer counteroffensive failed to secure significant territorial gains in large part because of the strength of Russia’s deep and extensive fortifications. Zelensky’s call for improvements to defensive structures comes as Russia steps up its own offensives in the east and amid uncertainty over additional military aid from the U.S., Ukraine’s most important backer.

He called on private companies and donors to get involved in a campaign to finance and build the fortifications, which he described as an “obvious priority,” and thanked all Ukrainians engaged in sourcing and manufacturing the required materials.

Last week, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry announced the launch of a new department that would work around the clock to oversee the construction of defensive lines and coordinate efforts by the military and local governments aimed at expediting the process.

The fortifications closest to the front line would be built by service members, the ministry said in a statement, while the second and third lines of defense would be the responsibility of agencies under the oversight of the Infrastructure Ministry, with private companies contracted to help with the task.

Zelensky said the areas most in need of fortifying were in the eastern Donbas region, where few rivers and other natural obstacles exist to prevent a possible Russian push. Moscow’s forces have in recent weeks intensified a campaign to seize the Donbas town of Avdiivka, where Ukraine has staged a costly defense effort and says Russia has lost thousands of troops.

Another area that needs fortifying, according to Zelensky, is a possible axis of Russian advance running between the Ukrainian-held towns of Lyman and Kupyansk in the northeast, which were recaptured by Kyiv in a lighting offensive last fall and which Russia has been targeting with artillery attacks and assaults ever since.

In the south, Ukrainian forces have established a toehold on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River across the water from the regional capital Kherson. Since Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson last fall, the body of water has served as a boundary between the two armies. Zelensky named Kherson as another area that must be strengthened with new defenses.

Ukraine’s push to retake land has stalled amid a shortage of manpower and arms, in particular artillery shells crucially needed to push back Russian forces and serve as cover for infantry assaults. Kyiv has repeatedly called for further weapons supplies from the West, but the conveyor belt of military aid from its allies has significantly slowed amid political deadlock over the aid in the U.S.

Zelensky has voiced concerns that the Israel-Hamas war is also diverting attention from the war in Ukraine, and has sought to keep a focus on his country’s existential fight.

“We didn’t get all the weapons we wanted, I can’t be satisfied,” Zelensky said in an interview with the Associated Press on Friday. He later added: “We wanted faster results. From that perspective, unfortunately, we did not achieve the desired results. And this is a fact.”