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In early December, Zelensky officially acknowledged that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had failed and that the Ukrainian military went on the defensive. As months ago Zelensky revealed plans of the military to launch counteroffensive and proudly provided Moscow with all the details, today, Kiev continues its media war and attempts to reduce the pain of defeat by revealing new plans of the military. Ukrainians are going to build defensive lines across half of the country.
The decision to begin the construction of fortifications was reportedly promoted by the Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine Zaluzhny. According to Ukrainian media, this was one of the reasons for the ongoing crisis in relations between Zelensky and the head of the military, Zaluzhny, since Zelensky did not want to admit the defeat of his “offensive” and, in fact, give up hopes of regaining the lost regions. The Kiev regime probably has a sound assessment of its might, and hardly believes that it will be able to take control of Crimea or Donbass; but the beginning of the construction of large defensive lines forces them to officially admit defeat.
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Zelensky first declared that the fortifications will protect a huge are on the Avdevka, Maryinka, Kupyansk, Liman directions, as well as border regions near Russia and Belarus.
‘I held a meeting at which we discussed the construction of fortifications on the main defensive lines. These are the Avdeevka, Maryinka, Kupyansk-Liman directions, as well as the regions bordering Russia and Belarus. The proper arrangement of defense lines should become a priority issue, including in front-line areas,’ – Zelensky declared a week ago.
Preliminary reports stated that there should be three lines of defense along the entire Donbass and the northern border of Ukraine. However, further reports revealed much more modest plans of the Kiev authorities.
According to more recent claims by th Representative of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ukrainian government has allocated UAH 32 million for the construction of fortifications. This is only about $800,000. Kiev authorities also claimed that the fortifications will be built in the southern Zaporozhie region, where the Armed Forces of Ukraine are moving to a “strategic defensive operation.” These funds should be used for the construction of defensive structures south of Zaporozhie, in the area of Orekhov east to the DPR border. This is much less than the plans announced by Zelensky a few days ago.
To compare, according to Kiev, Russia allegedly spent about $ 400 million on its defensive structures in the Zaporozhye region, which the Ukrainian military did almost not reach during its failed counter offensive. In its turn, Kiev is reportedly going to spend about 450 times less money on its fortifications. Ukrainian propaganda has outplayed itself.
Ukrainian servicemen highly appreciated the timely decision of their commanders to start building fortifications in the frozen soil in December:
Kiev’s project has already gained an unofficial name of Zelensky’s rampart and it is largely compared to the ambitious project of another wall aimed to protect Ukraine and the entire Europe from Russian aggression. In 2014, the then Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced his plan to build fortifications along the Russian border. Kiev payed at least $22 million for ‘Yatsenyuk’s wall”, which finally resulted in a couple hundred kilometers of frail wire:
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In his turn, Yatsenyuk did not respond where were millions of dollars allocated to his project. His ‘business plan’ inspired numerous Ukrainian patriots, who proposed new multimillion-dollar walls to defend Europe from Russia. None of them helped to stop the Russian troops. Zelensky’s rampart is unlikely to stop them either, if it is ever built.
