Months of relentless
Russian artillery pounding have devastated Chasiv Yar, a strategic city in eastern Ukraine, new drone footage obtained by
APnews shows, with barely a building left intact, homes and municipal offices charred and a town that once had a population of 12,000 now all but deserted. The strategically important city has been under attack by Russian forces for months. Capturing it would give Russia control of a hilltop from which it can attack other cities that form the backbone of Ukraine’s eastern defenses. That would set the stage for a potentially broader Russian offensive that Ukrainian officials say could come as early as this month.
Yet, to retreat carries no promise of safety: the rear defensive lines meant to give them cover barely exist [and a] lack of ammunition is forcing the outnumbered Ukrainian soldiers to pull back, one village after another, including
three surrendered Sunday, as intense fighting roils the countryside surrounding Avdiivka nearly three months after the strategic city
fell to Russia.
“It’s necessary to increase the pace of building fortifications … so that when we retreat, we will retreat to a prepared position,” said Batyar, a unit commander who gave only his military call sign in line with brigade protocols. “These fortifications are not enough.” Facing an outcry after Avdiivka’s fall, Ukraine is rushing to build concrete-fortified trenches, foxholes, firing positions and other barricades on the front lines. But relentless Russian shelling, lack of equipment and crippling bureaucracy plague construction across the vast 1,000-kilometer front, even as a new
Russian offensive looms, according to a dozen Ukrainian soldiers, government officials and construction company directors interviewed by
APnews.
Ukraine has allocated nearly 38 billion hryvnias ($960 million) to build an extensive fortification network this year. Soldiers across the front line maintain that should have happened last year, when Ukraine had the upper hand in the fighting, not in the heat of battle now. Unlike Russia, Ukraine does not have the option of forcing thousands of
prisoners to do the work. That means Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines must both fight and dig their own trenches. Building the second line, 2 to 5 kilometers behind the front line and within range of Russian artillery, is the responsibility of Ukraine’s poorly-resourced engineering force. The third line, at a greater distance from battle, is constructed by companies under military contracts. “We entered the war with nothing,” said a serviceman in Ukraine’s engineering force, who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk openly about the lack of preparation. When he arrived to build fortifications in Ukraine’s east in October, all his unit had were aging equipment from the 1960s and shovels, he said.
Finding companies willing to take the risk was another challenge. They faced layers of bureaucracy to get paid, while coming under enormous pressure to work fast. A contractor in the Sumy region said he had to follow up with a half-dozen government officials to get funding. “Not many people are willing to do this,” said a construction company director in the Marinka area of the Donetsk region...“This is is all a big question for our leadership: Why didn’t they purchase the equipment that military engineers needed to do their jobs? Why did they wait until they just gave it to us?” said the director, who like other company officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military contracts.
The owner of another company supplying concrete for front-line fortifications said some regional officials, under pressure to build them quickly, were inflating progress. “I saw the figures, and knowing what I know about the supplies, I know they can’t be true,” he said. And then, there are the Russian attacks. Drones monitor building activity as far back as the third line and routinely attack workers. In Kharkiv, at least four construction workers were killed in the last month, according to the governor. In addition, 10 pieces of equipment were destroyed.
“The enemy sees everything,” he said.
APnews hub.Ukraine
Interesting that the Zero they used in WWII was in many ways the most advanced fighter in the air.
