What do the defensive lines set up by Kiev look like?

Ukraine “strengthens its defenses”. Visiting the Sumy region (north-eastern Ukraine) this Wednesday March 27, 2024, Volodymyr Zelensky returned to the defensive lines that his army has been building almost everywhere along the front for several weeks.

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These fortifications and defensive positions should allow the Ukrainian military to manage and slow the withdrawal that observers and the Ukrainian General Staff consider inevitable, given the ammunition shortages associated with the reduction in Western support.

Hundreds of kilometers of protection

This defense extends from the region of Kherson to the region of Sumy, to the regions of Avdivka or Kharkiv. So they follow a long front of more than 1,000 kilometers and even extend to the border of Belarus.

According to international risk consultant Stéphane Audrend, these lines were established “between 3 and 30 kilometers” Behind the front, as it was drawn at the end of February, according to the location of the first terrain elements, which allow the deployment of such a line (forest, valley, river, etc.).

Ukrainians end up burying themselves

This fortification that the Ukrainian army is establishing must first allow it to bury itself.

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On Wednesday, in Sumy, Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that he has “Observation trenches, shelters, firing, command and observation positions”.

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For the Ukrainian armed forces, digging these trenches is the best way to resist Russian artillery, which, deprived of shells, fires six times more shells than their own.

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Anti-tank barriers

This defensive line is also designed to prevent a possible advance by Russian armor. “Dragon’s teeth”, these huge pyramid-shaped barriers, have been deployed at the front almost everywhere in recent weeks.

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Anti-tank ditches were also dug in some forward sectors. Some of these gaps are visible in the following video posted on social network X by the exclusive account NoelReports.

Minefields

Western observers, particularly the British Ministry of Defence, also suggest that the Ukrainians have installed numerous minefields, in the course of the work, extensively documented by Kiev communicators. A video report of him was recently relayed by Ukrainian media Euromaiden Press.

These devices echo the “Surovikin Line,” a Russian defense system built in 2023 that allowed Kremlin troops to counter attacks by Ukrainians in the south of the country, particularly in the Zaporizhia sector.

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Contribute to slowing Russian attacks

Kiev troops hope that the hastily constructed fortifications at the end of winter 2023-2024 will achieve similar results.

In the Evdivka sector, where the Russians concentrated their efforts for several weeks, they have already helped to slow and then halt the Russian thrusts.

The Ukrainians now hope to do so in the Tchasiv Yar sector, near Bakhmaut, where their adversary has postponed its efforts.