Ukraine-Russia Border Fence / European Bulwark
One of the main and expensive Ukrainian projects of the time of Prime Minister Yatsenyuk - a giant wall on the border with Russia under the high-flown name "European Wall" - turned out to be nothing more than a fiction. The wall was hailed as "the arrangement of the eastern border of Europe", and now it turns out that the allocated money has been squandered, and the fence built "won't stop even a rabbit."
The prosecutor's office of the Chernihiv region opened criminal proceedings in 2016 on the fact that officials of one of the state-owned enterprises embezzled almost 2 million hryvnias of budgetary funds (about 80 thousand US dollars) allocated for the Wall project.
As Deputy Borislav Bereza said, Yatsenyuk's "Wall" turned out to be a "garden net." “Even a wild rabbit will not be stopped by this wall. And what do we see now? There is no “Wall”, there is no money, and there is no Yatsenyuk either,” he noted.
Ukraine’s prime minister, Arseny Yatsenyuk, laid out Project Wall in 2014 as a line of fortifications on the border with Russia 2,000 kilometers long. Originally, it was to be completed within a six-month deadline, but then the project was extended to 2018, then to 2021 and finally, to 2025. Dubbed in its early days "Project Wall" and known also as "The European Rampart," the barrier was intended to fortify a significant section of Ukraine's porous eastern frontier while both literally and symbolically separating the country from its Soviet-era hegemon. But four years on, it was not exactly the bulwark the government planned. A struggling economy forced a fourfold reduction in its budget and pushed its scheduled completion date to 2020.
Ukraine had dug out about 400 kilometers of anti-tank trenches on the border with Russia under a project codenamed Wall, Sergey Deineko, who heads the state border guard service, said 05 May 2021. "From the moment Project Wall kicked off, about 400 kilometers of anti-tank trenches, 330 kilometers of parallel roads, 70 kilometers of tangled barbed wire and a 100-kilometer long steel fence have been built," Deineko said. Originally, the project’s costs were estimated at more than 4 billion hryvnias (about $143 million). The budget was eventually slashed to 2.5 billion hryvnias (about $90 million). As of today, about 2 billion hryvnias has been shelled out. This year’s expenditures are estimated at 338 million hryvnias (about $12 million - TASS). Deineko said the fortification work was nearing completion in the Kharkov Region and was well underway in the Chernigov Region. Project and exploration endeavors are in progress in the Sumy Region, but engineering works have not begun there yet.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the the 2,000km frontier border between Ukraine and Russia had been porous. The fence was meant to halt the movement of weapons, illegal migration and act as a first line of defense. With an allocated $136m, Project Wall became a priority on the government's agenda. The plan included construction of an electronic border control system, a steel fence, a patrol road and an anti-tank trench running along the border.
Since 2014, only a fraction of planned funding had arrived. In 2017, allocated funds constituted only 22 percent of the plan. In January that year, the project halted due to lack of funds. Therefore, beyond 83km of fence and 273km of trenches, what divided Ukraine from Russia is forests and fields.
The proposed Ukrainian border wall with Russia, which later was nicknamed the ‘European Wall,’ was halted due to a lack of financing, the Ukrainian news agency, UNIAN, reported 19 January 2017 citing Yulia Svetlichnaya, a representative of the Kharkov Region administration. “There is no funding for this project, so as far as I know it has stopped on the territory of the Kharkov Region,” the agency quoted Svetlichnya. She added that the local administration now only maintains those fortifications that were built earlier. Up to 4 billion hryvnia (about $160 million) had been allocated for this project until 2018.
A corruption scandal has put the project under question. By early 2018, just 15 percent of the wall had been built and it was unlikely to be completed by the end of 2018. In August and November 2017, eight people from the border guard and local contractors from Kharkiv were detained on corruption charges. In February 2018, several servicemen of the border guard, including the deputy of the Kharkiv border detachment and the head of the office of rapid responses, were also arrested. The government of Ukraine launched the project called "The Wall." Project Stina (Wall) is not an official name. Within the scope of the project, Ukraine intended to build a wall on the border with Russia, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk said at a cabinet meeting on 03 September 2014. "We are starting "The Wall" project. This involves the construction of a real border between Ukraine and Russia," he said. At the meeting, Yatsenyuk said that Ukraine needed a new defense doctrine, in which "Russia must be recognized as an aggressor, the main and the only state that threatens the territorial integrity of Ukraine," UNIAN reports. Yatsenyuk did not clarify any details of the project.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced that he would fence the country’s 2,000 kilometer border with Russia, claiming that it would prevent Russian military and paramilitary personnel from infiltrating the nation’s territory. Kiev then said it needed more than $500 million and four years to complete its wall. “The ‘European Rampart’, and namely its construction and equipping the state borders with Russia, will be completed. This project should be finished within four years,” Yatsenyuk said at the time.
At first presented by PM Yatsenyuk as no less than ‘The European Rampart’; by mid-2016 it turned out to be a metal fence, which “wouldn’t even stop a rabbit.” In August 2016 the Ukrainian media reported that the country’s Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) opened a criminal case over the embezzlement of funds allocated for the implementation of the proposed barrier, which was supposed to act as a layered defense system on the border with Russia.
Ukraine means borderland, which is an appropriate name for a country which frequently endured much of its history as a frontier for her neighbors. In the years that have passed since the Ukrainian declaration of independence, Ukraine had not fortified its borders on the east. Much of the Ukraine-Russia border is just on maps. There are no natural barriers or border fences. Ukraine’s borders with its neighbouring Soviet Republics (Russia, Belarus, Moldova) were purely administrative lines, which were not controlled and not demarcated. The Ukrainian-Russian border was one of the busiest among post-Soviet borders: 20 to 30 million persons crossed it per year. Russian and Ukrainian citizens could cross it with internal passports.
On 18 July 2014 the National Security and Defence Council presented a plan to build engineering structures at the Ukraine-Russia border. "Efforts are now under way to establish peace in these territories. Only when there is no shooting can these engineering structures be installed. The complex plan to build these reinforcements is ready and will be implemented as soon as the opportunity arises," the council's spokesman Andriy Lysenko said at a news briefing. According to him, the council instructed the government to conduct unilateral demarcation of the Ukraine-Russia border due to the threats to national security. Earlier this week, Dnipropetrovsk deputy governor Hennadiy Korban presented to the presidential administration an engineering project and a feasibility study for the construction of a 2,000-kilometer reinforced wall along the border, worth around 100 million euros.
The plan to construct a wall at the Russian-Ukrainian border by Ukrainian Prime Minister would make restoring normal relations between Moscow and Kiev impossible, the Head of Russia's Presidential Administration Sergei Ivanov said in an interview to Rossiyskaya Gazeta released 21 September 2014. "The construction of a wall, to my mind, will make impossible the very restoration of any kind of relations… I am sure there will be no wall in the end. Rhetoric is rhetoric and life is life," the official said. Ivanov also compared the Ukrainian wall with a "low-budget Mannerheim Line," referring to defensive fortifications build by Finland in 1920-1930s, supposed to deter the Soviet troops.
It was decided in April 2001 not to restore but to dismantle in the near future the defensive obstacles idling on Ukraine's borders. The dismantling was carried out in compliance with the presidential decree On the Action Program to Reform Ukraine's Border Security Force and the State Border Guard Service. Electrical warning devices, which can spot the movement of any creature the size of a hare, were installed on Ukraine's western border already in Soviet times and were now too costly for Ukraine to maintain. It is for this reason that Ukrainian border guards decided not to concentrate on the warning systems but to use other approaches in their work. In particular, the main emphasis was put on operative and search measures and contacts with the local population.
Closing the border with Russia must be high on Ukraine’s list of priorities, Interior Minister Avakov’s adviser, Anton Herashchenko, said, speaking on 30 May 2014. Very soon, the border guards and defense ministry are going to take steps to tighten the border with Russia, he said. “For 23 years of Ukraine’s independence, the border with Russia was porous: there is no fence and adequate control,” the adviser said.
Andriy Parubiy, the head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, estimated 16 June 2014 there were 15,000-20,000 "armed terrorists" in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and "more than half of them come from Russia."
Failure to properly demarcate the Ukraine-Russia border could continue to cause tensions and to reduce the effectiveness of Ukraine's desire to integrate successfully with the West and the global community at large. To influence the Russians to complete this process, one proposal would be to make border demarcation a condition for Ukraine's approval of Russia's entry into the WTO by emphasizing Ukraine's legitimate right to an established border. An established border is required to establish customs territories and regimes linked to foreign trade. A properly marked border is also required to tackle the extreme problem of contraband flow on both sides of their border with Russia.
Outside the official crossing areas, the borderlands are a porous landscape of wheat fields, oak forests and innumerable ravines and country roads, so crossing can easily escape detection. The route to the frontier from the Russian side leads across the Don Steppe, an area known in czarist times as the "Wild Field." It is a rural and agricultural panorama, where ripe winter wheat blows in the breezes, interspersed with dense forests and tiny villages. On the Russian side of the border stand new concrete buildings and proper fencing, separated by 100 yards or so of potholed asphalt from the Ukrainian side, with its sheet metal guard shacks. Afterward the road carries on, through the same countryside.
Ukraine was "surprised" by the statement that Russia's First deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loshchin made in Moscow on 24 April 2002 regarding demarcation of the Ukrainian-Russian border, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's First Deputy State Secretary Volodymyr Yelchenko said on 26 April 2002. According to Yelchenko, it is public knowledge that demarcation is an integral part of the process of legalization of national borders. According to Yelchenko, the main efforts are presently focused on accelerating completion of the process of delimitation of the Ukrainian-Russian border, since the Ukrainian-Russian Commission on Border Delimitation is still continuing its work.
As for Loshchin's interpretation of the process of border demarcation as a network of "palisades and fences," we believe that the metaphor used by him was unfortunate and has no place in modern international law, Yelchenko said.
According to Yelchenko, demarcation is the process of marking borders on the ground. Therefore, according to him, "palisades and fences or barb wires" have nothing in common with demarcation of national borders. Yelchenko stressed that Ukraine will mark its borders in accordance with the international standards currently existing in Europe, including those used to mark the borders among the member-countries of the European Union.
In March 2011 Vladimir Putin said that consequences of the creation of the Free Trade Area with the EU would be “difficult” for Ukraine, because Russia would be forced “to be building up the border” against Ukrainian goods, with which Ukraine, he said, would not be able to enter the European market, “but it would not work well to drop them into our (Russian, ed.) market.” Ukrainian or European goods had the Russian Prime Minister so scared of that he talked about erecting a border fence.
In August 2013 Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of the CIS countries, said "Ukraine's entrance in a zone of free trade with the EU means the removal of customs barriers for many goods. Bearing in mind that the Russian-Ukrainian border is virtually transparent, Russia in this situation simply has to put up a fence to protect itself and its partners in the Customs Union".
A two-meter ditch has been dug in Donetsk region along the border with Russia, Chairman of Donetsk Regional State Administration Serhiy Taruta has said on 17 March 2014. "We have dug a ditch. It is two and a half meters deep, and four meters wide," the official said. According to him, a two-meter wall has been also raised along the ditch. "It is clear that all this will not solve all problems for the protection of the state border, but should protect it significantly," Taruta said.
On March 25, 2014 the Kherson region decided to erect watchtowers and dig a trench on the border with the Republic of Crimea, which was not recognized by Ukraine. The press service of the Kherson regional council announced this to Ukrainian News. "It was also proposed to erect watchtowers and dig a continuous trench with a length of 20 kilometers on the border," the press service said. According to the regional council, border crossings with areas for vehicles awaiting inspection will be built on the border with the Crimea.
On 22 May 2014 border patrol performing duties not far from BCP “Izvaryne” (Luhansk region) noticed “Gazel” vehicle that had driven up to the state border line from the side of Russian Federation. Five men dismounted from the car and started filling the defensive ditch, supposedly, intending to cross the state border of Ukraine illegally. In order to stop illegal activity, border patrol made several fire warning shots into the air. After that, offenders quickly got into the car and disappeared into the territory of Russian Federation. In such a way, one more attempt to cross the state border illegally and, most probably, to carry forbidden military items into Ukraine failed.
By June 2014 the overall situation at the frontier remained murky; there was no evidence of a flood of men and arms crossing the border. Yet it was clear that many Russians, mostly war veterans, Cossacks or ultranationalists, had signed up to fight in Ukraine in recent weeks.
Despite the optimistic declarations of border troops chiefs about the reliability of the border, there are porous stretches in the Luhansk oblast, says head of Information Resistance NGO Dmytro Tymchuk 05 June 2014. “We have information that about 100 km of the border is practically open. We are trying to look into this.” Although the State Border Service announced it had set up 400 new checkpoints, experts say there are stretches which are not controlled, Tymchuk says. In the Luhansk oblast, unlike the Donetsk oblast where Governor Taruta was the first to propose and make them, there are no anti-vehicles trenches. Tymchuk suspects political corruption.
Ukrainian border guards abandoned a post near Luhansk in early June 2014, blowing a hole in a border that was already considered porous at best, opening the way for men, war matériel and contraband to enter the country. Since then, several other posts have been commandeered by the separatists, who also overran the border guards' headquarters in Luhansk.
A Ukrainian government official proposed Friday 13 June 2014 building a 2,000 kilometer fence between Russia and Ukraine. Topped with barbed wire and electrified, the fence would be protected by ditches and anti-personnel mines. The $130 million- project proposed by Hennadiy Korban is far from becoming a reality. But it illustrates how hostile relations between the two bordering nations have become.
As if to prove the border has holes, Denis Pushilin, head of eastern Ukraine’s breakaway Donetsk People's Republic, popped up in Moscow this week. He met with nationalist politicians, appeared at a support rally, and gave interviews to Russian state television. In one, he said the rebels now have the three tanks - but he did not say where they came from. In the interview, he made financial arguments for trying to take his region from Ukraine into Russia. He said his region pays far more in taxes to Kyiv than it gets in return.
Traffic through Russia’s so-called "closed" border goes both ways. Oleg Tsarev, a fugitive member of Ukraine's parliament, told reporters in Donetsk that he was just back from Moscow, where he opened a fund-raising office for his pro-separatist People’s Front.
Tycoon and Governor of the Dnipropetrovsk oblast Ihor Kolomojsky proposed 12 June 2014 to Pres Poroshenko to start the construction of a 1,900-km fence along Ukraine eastern border with Russia. The project was submitted to the presidential administration.
According to Ihor Kolomojsky, “The peaceful Finland was saved from Stalin by the Mannerheim line. A similar line must be erected to protect Ukraine from Putin. The wall on the Israeli border is very effective against terrorists.” The project will take 5-6 months to complete.
The fence is to be built from high-durability steel and barbed wire. The fence must be protected on both sides with deep trenches to preclude access of vehicles, civilians and animals. The space between the fence and the trench is to be mined with signal and anti-personnel mines. The fence can be electrified.
The fence was to be covered by mobile detachments of border guards and National Guard. The fence could effectively cut off terrorists, supplies and weaponry from their bases in Russia.
The materials for the 1,920-km long fence would cost about 50 million euros. The project’s total costs won’t exceed 100 mn euros. All the works are to be made by Ukrainians. A significant part of the building costs can be funded by the Dnipro-1 charity foundation. Given President Poroshenko’s blessing, the foundation can build the fence in 5-6 months, Ihor Kolomojsky says.
National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine decided to unilaterally define the border with Russia. NSDC Secretary Andriy Parubiy said at a briefing on 16 June 2014 that Kiev would be constructing the necessary facilities and would unilaterally demarcate the border, not only in the battle-torn areas, but throughout the whole of the Russian-Ukrainian border. The secretary said the border would be equipped at the expense of the state budget, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had insisted on completing the work as soon as possible.
Russia would not recognize Kiev’s decision on the unilateral demarcation of the border, which would lead to ongoing border disputes, Russian lawmaker Alexei Pushkov said 17 June 2014. "We can assume that Russia will not recognize the unilateral demarcation at least because it is contrary to all norms of the international law," Chairman of the Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs Alexei Pushkov said during a parliamentary session on Tuesday.
"Unilateral demarcation of the border does not exist. In case Kiev does not know this, a mixed commission is always created to decide on demarcation, the two sides are engaged in the process, and it becomes the subject of a separate agreement between the states,” Pushkov said. The committee chairman said a border drawn by a single side is illegal, unrecognized and has no legal force. "Therefore, unilateral demarcation of the border is a path to ongoing border disputes with Russia," Pushkov further explained.
The Ukrainian government publicized some of the President Petro Poroshenko peace plan provisions on 20 June 2014, ahead of the official announcement. The plan called for a unilateral cease-fire that would give rebels a chance to disarm or leave the country. It also includes establishing a corridor allowing separatist fighters to leave Ukraine for Russia, the creation of a 10-kilometer buffer zone along the Ukrainian-Russian border.
By mid-October 2014, a 62-kilometer long anti-tank ditch was dug along the border with Russia, as well as some 50 kilometers of fences. 750 km of control and light bars were developed, as were trenches, bunkers and checkpoints. In November, Ukraine built another 70-kilometer stretch. "We have to date equipped 135.54 kilometers of antitank ditches and 86.42 kilometers of artificial barriers," Ukraine border guard chief Viktor Nazarenko told a press conference in Kiev on 27 November 2014.
The government will allocate UAH 850 million for the construction of fortifications in Donbas. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said at a briefing in Kharkiv 26 March 2015. "Now all the efforts are made for the construction of fortifications along the line of contact in Donbas, because there is the biggest danger there. We will allocate UAH 850 million for these purposes. And then Russia must explain to the world the reasons for its crossing the border, as today it has a bridgehead in the form of illegally occupied territories," Poroshenko said. According to him, it will be a powerful line of defense, made under international standards. "And when the enemy comes to us, he will pay a very high price," he said.
The massive fortification project dubbed the ‘Great Wall of Ukraine' will be completed before the end of 2018 Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk made that promise 23 May 2015 during an inspection of the part of the fence that's planned to stretch the almost 2,000 kilometer land border with Russia. He said the government had found ways to build the construction at a cost five times cheaper than the millions of dollars originally estimated.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian Prime Minister, said: "Basically, these are the Ukrainian enterprises, which do the construction work and make all the equipment, which is going to be used at the state border. This project has two goals. Fist one is security and defense from Russian saboteurs and the second one is to support our economy, to create new jobs and to develop our science research. Look, what kind of projects were fulfilled by Ukrainian firms".
Ukrainian officials say the wall will enhance national security, improve the business climate and bring Ukraine closer to NATO membership and EU integration. Meanwhile, Yatsenyuk previously claimed the fortifications would serve as Europe's de facto eastern boundary, while also helping Ukraine reassure its European partners that it is in full control of its borders.
Russia erected 40km of fortified walls, and more than 100km of defensive trenches on its border with the rebel Ukrainian regions of Lugansk and Donetsk. “The engineering fortification of the state border is aimed at ensuring stability in the Rostov region, and preventing the illegal circulation of firearms,” Russia’s border service said in a statement 25 May 2015.
The government agency said that it intercepted over 60 illegal weapons shipments across the border since the beginning of the year. In doing so, it confiscated 40 firearms, 200 grenades, 100 shells and 40 landmines. The border service said it had to arrest more than 400 people for either illegally crossing the border or approaching the secure zone next to it, and open fire on five occasions.
Ukraine planned to erect a new wall to defend against an imaginary attack from Russia. Billed as “The Sea Wall,” the new project is meant to protect the Azov Sea port of Mariupol and comes hard on the heels of the much-trumpeted “Great Wall of Ukraine,” which remained unbuilt. According to Ukraine’s State Border Service spokesman Oleh Slobodyan, the new project envisages the construction of a string of fortified structures along the seashore, politnavigator.net wrote.
“The so-called Sea Wall, already approved by the government, will consist of a number of fortifications to monitor the coastal area and in the event of a naval assault, to hold back the enemy until the arrival of our main forces. It will be built along the Azov Sea coast,” Slobodyan said. Neither the cost of the new project nor the construction deadline was immediately available, politnavigator.net wrote.
Ukraine planned to seal itself off from Russia by building a 2,000-kilometer fence at a cost of $150 million.
- BORDER MARKERS
- WEIGHT SENSORS - These sensors detect movements along the border, activating nearby cameras to focus on the area.
- DITCH - The ditch is set to block tanks and other vehicles from crossing the border illegally. It is 2-3 meters deep and about 6 meters wide.
- NIGHT-VISION CCTV CAMERAS - Cameras will be placed every 100 meters to help border-security forces monitor movements and for "potential sabotage."
- RAZOR-WIRE FENCE - The fence is over two meters tall and topped with razor wire. Some areas are said to be electrified.
- WATCHTOWERS - Watchtowers will be placed every 20 kilometers along the border to aid surveillance in the area and to shelter guards.
In March 2016, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau launched criminal proceedings over 16.7 million hryvnias (about $623,000) being stolen from the project’s budget. In 2017, eight suspects involved in the corruption scheme were arrested. Detectives say that a number of officials in Ukraine’s border guard service and businesses overstated the amount of work done and also used fly-by-night companies to siphon off project funds. Some accounting reports mentioned works that had never been carried out at all.
The embezzlement scandal put the entire project in question. Project Wall's construction should have been faster, wider, and better, according to Ukraine's National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU). That FBI-trained anticorruption agency -- formed in the wake of the Euromaidan protests as Kyiv set out to implement crucial reforms to secure Western aid -- found that some of the patrol roads along the wall where border guards cruise in fourwheelers, for instance, were narrower than the planned three meters and that at least $365,000 was stolen from its budget. Eight people from the Border Guard Service of Ukraine and local contractors were detained in August and November 2017 for alleged embezzlement. On July 5, NABU announced it had completed its pretrial investigation into their actions and prepared an indictment for special anticorruption prosecutors to send to court.
By 2018 the wall project covered merely a fraction of Ukraine's 2,300-kilometer eastern border with Russia. It comprised 170 kilometers of trenches; 72 kilometers of fencing; a 165-kilometer patrol road; a 19-kilometer ground strip fitted with seismic sensors to detect objects of more than 60 kilograms; and four frontier posts with 17-meter-high watchtowers equipped with security and thermal-imaging cameras. There was also a 20-kilometer section of fencing and trenches in the war-torn Luhansk region to the south.
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk calls those who accuse him of orchestrating any wrongdoing "Goebbels-style" liars perpetuating "Kremlin propaganda." Yatsenyuk said "Moscow openly does not want to have a border between Ukraine and Russia. Therefore, the Kremlin is making tremendous efforts to disrupt or discredit any border project."
https://lb.ua/tag/13921_proekt_ctina
https://statewatch.org.ua/publications/velyka-ukrains-ka-stina-vichnyy-proekt-tsinoiu-mil-iardiv-z-biudzhetu/
https://www.epravda.com.ua/publications/2020/05/21/660800/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvibZ58EIbE
https://www.slovoidilo.ua/2020/06/04/novyna/suspilstvo/stinu-kordoni-ukrayiny-rf-dosi-buduyut-pivroku-vytratyly-53-miljony
https://svidomi.in.ua/page/na-pivnochi-ukrainy-fakhivtsi-zvodiat-stinu-na-kordoni-z-bilorussiu
https://www.dw.com/uk/%D1%81%D1%82%D1%96%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D1%83%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D0%B8-%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%96-%D0%B7-%D1%80%D1%84-%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%85%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82-%D0%B2%D1%96%D0%B4-%D0%B0%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0-%D1%87%D0%B8-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B9-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82/a-17909960
Construction of the "Wall" on the border with the Russian Federation began in 2015. During the period from 2015 to 2019, UAH 1.7 billion was spent on the project. It was expected that the construction would be completed in 2018, but later the dates were moved to 2021. only 546 km of the planned 634 km of engineering fences on the border have been installed, and 316 km of the planned 341 km of rolling roads have been laid.
During the construction, the SAP incriminated the officials with a number of articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure, including misuse of budget funds and official forgery. In November 2019, the Supreme Court transferred the case of the "Wall" project to VAKS .
The construction of engineering and defense structures on the border of Ukraine with Russia within the framework of the "Wall" project was 40% completed as of the end of May 2020. This is stated in the response of the State Border Service of Ukraine to the request of the StateWatch expert organization. According to the report, 40% of the works under the "Wall" project have already been completed.
As the border guards clarified, the project is financed from the budget program "Measures for engineering and technical arrangement of the border". In particular, for 2020, 400 million hryvnias were invested in the "Wall". As of June 1, 53 million hryvnias were spent, the State Security Service reported.
With the onset of winter, the Ukrainian army has switched its language, now acknowledging a shift to a defensive posture along the military lines separating its armed forces from those of Russia. This comes after the military and political leadership of the country have spent the past six months talking up a successful 'counteroffensive' against Russia. They are now obliged to admit in practice, if not in words, the failure of their 'counter-offensive'. President Volodymyr Zelensky told an interview with the Associated Press on December 1 that as winter approaches, a new phase of the armed conflict with Russia is beginning. "Winter as a whole is a new phase of the war," he stated.
US media as well is acknowledging the failed counteroffensive, if only in words. On December 11, the New York Times published an extensive analysis of the state of the war in Ukraine headlined, 'US and Ukraine search for a new strategy after failed counteroffensive'. It writes, "The push for a fresh approach comes after Ukraine’s months-long counteroffensive failed in its goal of retaking territory lost to the invading Russian army, and after [recent] weeks of often tense encounters between top American officials and their Ukrainian counterparts."
On November 30, Reuters reported Zelensky announcing the beginning of construction of a complex of defensive fortifications stretching from the Donbass region in the former eastern Ukraine to areas of central Ukraine. The Wall Street Journal reported on December 1 that the priority for Zelensky's government for the construction of a wall will be the Donbass region, where Russian forces are making steady progress in pushing Ukrainian forces out of artillery range of the capital city of the now-Russian Donetsk Republic. Ukraine has pounded the city and surrounding settlements with artillery, mortars and small arms fire since the spring of 2014 (even during the early stages when the Donbass region of which Donetsk is a part was still formally part of Ukraine!).
The eight years of attacks against Donetsk and the broader Donbass, beginning in 2014, were a failed effort to quash a popular rebellion against the far-right coup which took place in Kiev in February 2014. Current fighting in Donetsk is centered in and around the small city of Avdiivka, located only some 25 kilometers from Donetsk city center.
It is being reported in Ukraine that additional fortifications will be erected in places along the nearly 1,000 km border with Belarus.
A lot of funding will be required for all this announced construction work, and this is certainly beyond the means of Zelensky's government. So, media talk says part of the funding--for 'second' and 'third' defense lines—is expected and hoped to come from private capital in the country. However, it is highly doubtful that private businesses will seriously 'invest' in such works, particularly at a time when Western media and governments are acknowledging that the nearly two-year Ukrainian military effort against Russia, extensively funded and equipped by NATO countries, has faltered.
The 'European Wall' dream
Back when Petro Poroshenko was president of post-coup Ukraine (2014-2019), he and the leading figure of the 2014 'Maidan' coup movement, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, were touting the project to build a wall along the Russian border, using the high-profile name of 'European Wall'. Four billion hryvnias (app. U.S.$110 million) were allocated for the project. Over the period 2015-2019, only a few kilometers of mesh fencing were erected and several kilometers of shallow ditches were dug. Most of the allocated funds were stolen or otherwise went missing.
In 2018, People's Deputy of Ukraine Olena Sotnyk criticized the progress of construction works following an inspection at the border. She called the whole project "a pit worth four billion hryvnias".
It seems evident that this description from some five years ago still fits the drawn-out, fortifications project. Unlike Russia, Ukraine does not have the capacity on its own to finance and implement an infrastructure project of this scale, nor does it even have the manpower to build it. According to Zelensky's plan, if we may so generously call it a 'plan', approximately 1,700 km of fortifications will have to be built for the first line of defense alone. By comparison, the famous 'Maginot Line' built in France during the 1930s in anticipation of another war with Germany was 400 km long and took 12 years to construct. (Despite all the work, the line did little to protect the French against the advanced weaponry and military strategies of the Nazi armies.)
In Finland, the 'Mannerheim Line' was built during the 1930s and 1940s to defend against the Soviet Union's Red Army. It was about 130 km long and took several decades, in stages, to build. Ultimately, this line also failed when the Red Army invaded Finland in early 1940 in order to better protect the Soviet Union from military invasion via the waters and adjacent shorelines of the Gulf of Finland. Finnish resistance during the 'Winter War' lasted a few months. The vast bulk of the Mannerheim Line comprised trenches and other, simple field fortifications. Bunkers along the line were small and thinly spread out; the line had hardly any artillery. (The Finnish government of the day formally supported the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany in June 1941.)
Building defenses in harsh winter conditions
The main military problem today for Ukraine is the land in the combat regions with Russia, namely, the earth is frozen during winter. Russia built its defensive fortifications during the preceding summer, fully expecting them to hold. Ukraine presumably anticipated better results from its 'counteroffensive', which begun in June, and therefore did not build substantial defensive lines when the ground was still easy to dig.
Russian military observer Gennady Alekhin (a reserve colonel in the Russian armed forces and a former Ukraine army officer), explained to Ukraine.ru in early December, "As our officers with whom I have had the opportunity to communicate tell us, the trenches of the Ukraine Armed Forces (AFU) are not dug to a required height; they are only half-dug. Their shelters largely consist of 'foxholes', which only provide shelter during warm weather. They also have very few equipped dugouts because the constant rotations of soldiers and units does not allow the necessary time to build or repair them quickly.
"There is the added fact of the dangers when the AFU rotates its personnel. Those who rotate to the rear mine their trenches before leaving in order to prevent Russian troops from capturing them. Ukrainian replacements arrive and are sometimes blown up in the seemingly 'safe' trenches they are re-occupying because they were, quite simply, not warned of the dangers awaiting them."
Gennady Alekhin also notes the difference in winter uniforms between the two armies, which has traditionally been a problem in all Western military operations in the vast, wintry lands of Ukraine and Russia. "A Russian soldier knows that he will be dressed for the winter season, with quality equipment and warm clothing and footwear. He won't be issued a poor overcoat, as was the case with Germans soldiers in 1941 on the approaches to Moscow.
"Ukrainian fighters rely on the help of volunteers buying clothes for them at their own expense. Those without volunteer help are ofttimes left to freeze in summer clothing." He explains further that the Ukrainian military is often being supplied with Western military uniforms that are not designed to be used for living and sleeping on frozen ground for weeks on end.
Ukrainian generals accuse the US of poor and improper military advice in the planning of the Ukrainian 'counteroffensive' launched in June 2023, which is now officially recognized as failed. The Washington Post published a detailed, two-part feature report on December 4 on the subject, which has been cited by the Ukrainska Pravda media outlet. (Part one is here; part two is here.) Among other things, the Post report details the extensive involvement of US and British militaries in directing Ukraine's war effort.
The Post explains, "The Ukrainian, American, and UK militaries conducted eight significant tabletop war games to create an offensive strategy". It goes on to explain that top Ukrainian military officials came to dismiss the war games. "All these methods … you can take them neatly and throw them away, you know?" a senior Ukrainian said of the war-game scenarios. "Throw them away because it doesn’t work like that now."
The US generals went so far as to instruct the Ukrainian military to adopt terrorist tactics. The Post writes, "During one visit to Wiesbaden [the US military base named after the adjacent German city], General Mark A. Milley, then chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke with Ukrainian special operations troops — who were training with American Green Berets — in the hope of inspiring them ahead of operations in enemy-controlled areas. 'There should be no Russian who goes to sleep without wondering if they’re going to get their throat slit in the middle of the night,' Milley said, according to an official with knowledge of the event. 'You gotta get back there, and create a campaign behind the lines.'"
Military conscription intensifies
Martin Brest, a representative of the Ukrainian NGO 'Economic Front', was reported to have recently said on Telegram that some 4.5 million Ukrainian men are currently evading military conscription. He says the only way to force them to come to the military recruitment centers has been to block their bank cards and unblock them only after a visit to the military enlistment office.
German Bundestag deputy Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU) called in early December for Ukrainian refugees residing in EU countries to be forced into military service. "There are more than 600,000 of them in the EU--able-bodied Ukrainian men who are evading military service. In Germany alone, there are 220,000 of them," the German MP told an interview with Die Welt, as reported by Ukrainian media.
Rallies of wives and mothers of Ukrainian servicemen have been held in Ukrainian cities demanding that a time limit for military service be set. Many Ukrainian soldiers have been serving for several years and discharges are being delayed or outright opposed.
The former social policy minister of Ukraine, Andriy Reva, says that conscripted people perceive entry into Ukraine’s army as a one-way ticket. "Two years pass, and they begin to realize that they have no prospects to rest, to quit the army - no. This is occurring as their human strength is at its limit. What are their prospects? Either you will be seriously wounded and be written out of active service through the current system of military medical commissions... or you will die. It is a one-way ticket." According to him, civilians are well aware of these prospects and are trying their best to avoid a death sentence, to which service in the AFU is equated.
Western media is beginning to acknowledge Ukraine's conscription crisis. The Washington Post devoted an article to the subject on December 6, titling it, 'Ukraine cracks down on draft-dodging as it struggles to find troops'.
'Ukraine's army becoming a NATO army'
At a meeting of a newly formed 'NATO-Ukraine Council' on November 29, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told journalists "We are in many ways becoming a de facto NATO army in terms of our technical capabilities, approaches and principles of army management." Kuleba continued, "Defending Europe without Ukraine is a futile task; you cannot do it for one simple reason — we have the strongest, most battle-hardened army in Europe."
Another Ukrainian nationalist MP and former 'Euromaidan' activist, Oleksiy Honcharenko, has written on his Telegram channel that in order not to lose US aid, Ukraine should actually sell its soldiers into service with the armies of Washington and its subordinates. "It is time to change strategy; it is time to offer the US a military alliance in which we commit to participate in any US military conflict."
He continues, "In exchange for security guarantees and economic investments, Ukraine should offer to Japan and Taiwan a military alliance in which we commit to participation in the defense of these two countries against a possible Chinese attack. We should offer to France that we introduce our troops into African countries controlled by France in exchange for technology and military support."
But Ukraine's Western allies appear in no hurry to prop up the dying Ukrainian economy. In December, Ukraine commenced another round of price hikes due to the consequences of the blockade of Ukraine's western borders by truck carriers in Poland and Slovakia.
Truck carriers in the two countries want changes to the special program that allows truck shipments originating in Ukraine to cross through their countries to western Europe. They say this is bankrupting their transport businesses, Reuters explains on December 11, "Polish truckers have been blockading four of the eight road crossings between the two countries since early November in protest against Ukrainian drivers getting permit-free access to the European Union… Thousands of trucks carrying commercial goods have been backed up for weeks at Poland's border crossings with Ukraine because of the protests, which began on November 6."
The carriers have been joined by protesting farmers in Poland who are demanding an end to the big influx of cheaper grain from Ukraine into European markets.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said recently he would demand that the European Commission cancel the transportation visa-free zone for Ukraine. Blockades by Polish truckers and farmers at the country's border with Ukraine have caused considerable damage to the already fragile Ukrainian economy.
The deputy head of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, Denys Marchuk, says that the prices of imported fuel and food are expected to rise due to the border blockades. According to him, if the blockades continue, they will pull the whole price chain of foodstuffs upward. As Ukraine suffers huge losses in its economy, this situation can only worsen for the Zelensky administration in Kiev. These economic conflicts can easily escalate into political clashes, especially if they provoke physical clashes at the borders and protest rallies inside Poland and other EU countries.
There is even a risk that neighboring countries may completely close their borders with Ukraine.
The 'best kept' secret of Western aid to Ukraine
Even the aid that Kiev is receiving from the United States largely ends up back in the home country. This is 'the best-kept secret' about US military aid to Ukraine (and other, Western aid). The funds approved by lawmakers to arm Ukraine do not go directly to Ukraine but are spent in the US to manufacture new weapons and replace the weaponry sent to Kiev from US stockpiles.
The Washington Post published a twisted commentary on December 4 arguing that the huge sums being sent to Ukraine for it to fight a war with Russia are actually something of a "bargain" for the US. It writes, "Altogether, the US share [of military assistance to Ukraine] amounts to less than one-third of all outside funding directed to helping Ukraine stave off Russia’s onslaught. If you measure each donor country’s contribution against its gross domestic product, the US burden is less than that of some 20 other countries."
"The cost of deploying US troops to defend vulnerable NATO allies against a nuclear-armed power is imponderable. It would surely… dwarf Congress’s appropriations for Ukraine." And it adds further, "If you narrow down [post-9/11 military spending] to just the two years 2007 and 2008--a period of heavy fighting by US troops roughly equivalent to the nearly two-year span since Russia invaded Ukraine--Washington’s support for Ukraine is still slight by comparison."
Another report in the Post, this one dated November 29, is headlined, "Ukraine aid’s best-kept secret: Most of the money stays in the U.S.A." The report praises the military assistance being sent to Ukraine, because this is "reviving" military production in the United States proper. "Of the $68 billion in military and related assistance Congress has approved since Russia invaded Ukraine, almost 90 percent is going to Americans, one analysis found."
"In other words, as happens with foreign military aid, our aid to Ukraine is not only creating American jobs but also reinvigorating our dangerously atrophied defense industrial base. Senator Vance said in October that 'The condition of the American defense industrial base is a national scandal. Repairing it is among our most urgent priorities'. Well, our aid to Ukraine is doing exactly that."
Oleksiy Arestovich, a former, principal advisor to Zelensky from December 2023 to January 2023, stated the other day that the West is not yet able to compete militarily with the countries of the global South. According to him, the West is not ready for a war with Russia nor with the Global South because, unlike the Russian Federation, the Western countries have not kept their military technology and industries on par with their targeted rivals. "What kind of war are we talking about? The West showed up to the war in Ukraine with its pants down. It turned out to be an emperor without clothes. It is not capable of fighting this war and winning it," he said.
According to Arestovich, the West is risking "committing suicide" amid its rising tensions and clashes with the Global South (by which he means China, India and the countries of Latin American and Africa). "I see less and less chances of the West winning in a clash with the Global South and East," Arestovich wrote.
As this brutal war continues, Ukraine’s authorities are continuing efforts to become a Western outpost and join the West's rising threats and clashes with the Global South. They are offering to sell their own citizens as foot soldiers to the West and have gone so far as to offer to attack military production and supply in Syria and Iran under the scurrilous claim that these two countries are providing significant weaponry to Russia. (Of note, in passing, is the fact that Russia has never threatened to attack the countries such as Turkey and South Korea that are supplying Ukraine with weapons.)
Kiev's military actions have proven ineffective, even on its own territory, let alone elsewhere in the world. Ukraine fears losing its role as a tool for Western capitalism because the country's kleptocratic rulers benefit greatly from the wealth and privileges they accrue from Western aid.
Ukraine could build a wall on the border between Ukraine and Russia, as well as on the border between Ukraine and Belarus. Anti-tank vehicles, anti-missile installations and anti-aircraft defense equipment should be located near this wall along its entire length, so that the next time (God forbid, of course) the enemy will not be able to fire at us with missiles, cross our border with tanks or fly over Ukraine with drones, dropping bombs The wall itself should be high enough, strong and thick. You can put barbed wire on top. Military units should be established not far from the borders to quickly respond to a border breach, and border guards should be able to act as soldiers in the event of a border breach. This will allow us to protect the territory of our state and reduce our losses in the event of a military conflict. It is also necessary to explain to civilians that this wall is not intended to fence off Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians, but to increase Ukraine's defense capabilities.
On December 19, Rada deputy Alexandra Ustinova said that due to problems with receiving assistance from the West, Kyiv will have to go on the defensive, so Ukraine is building three lines of fortifications. Earlier, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky called for the construction of defensive structures not only along the front line, but also in the west of the country. After this, the North group of troops published footage of the installation of anti-tank barriers, and the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces also posted photographs of the construction of fortifications.
On 12 January 2024, Taras Melnychuk, a representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada , said that the Cabinet had decided to allocate almost 2.5 billion hryvnia ($65.7 million) to strengthen the country’s defense capability, including the construction of fortifications.
The authorities of the Ivano-Frankivsk region in western Ukraine invited citizens to take part in the construction of fortifications, promising to provide a deferment from mobilization for the period of work. The regional administration reported this 13 January 2024 with reference to the deputy chairman of the regional state administration, Vadim Sozonik. According to him, the authorities are recruiting local residents to work in the Kyiv-controlled part of the DPR. “Those who agree to help with the construction of defensive structures will receive a deferment from conscription during the construction period,” the administration’s press service quotes the official as saying.
On 02 February 2024, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held another Staff of the Supreme Commander. Building up fortifications was the fourth topic of the Stavka. Prime Minister Denys Shmygalya reported on the financing of fortifications, and the head of the Ministry of Defense Umyerov reported on the deadlines for completing tasks.
Russia outnumbers us and builds defensive lines, but we do not. Qualitatively built, with technology, with concrete floors. The problem is obvious - there is no organization. There is no strategy that defines this organization. President Zelenskyi said on December 1 that defensive lines should be built. https://censor.net/ua/r3460465">Army problems: administration, counteroffensive, will Syrsky replace Zaluzhny?
On March 4, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmygal, said that since the beginning of this year, the government has allocated 20 billion hryvnias from the reserve fund of the state budget for fortifications and the construction of defense lines.
Earlier, the Office of the President reported that all regions of Ukraine were involved in the construction of fortifications . In particular, brigades from the rear regions help to build a line of defense and military engineering and technical facilities and to set up barrier systems in front-line and border areas.
The Ministry of Defense and the regional administration were responsible for the construction of fortifications in the Kharkiv region . The contractors who were responsible for the construction of the fortifications will report at the meeting of the "Transparency and Accountability" group.
On May 13, the head of the Kharkiv regional administration, Oleg Synegubov, told about this.
"It is necessary to distinguish between the tasks facing the administration and the Ministry of Defense. I can be responsible for the administration. We performed the tasks facing the administration on time, and our military personnel are now at our positions," Sinegubov said.
According to Synegubov, he instructed the relevant deputy to have the contractors report on the completed work at the meeting of the "Transparency and Accountability" group.
"The results of the meeting will be announced publicly during a press briefing, where media representatives can ask any clarifying questions that concern the public," the message reads.
After the creation of a temporary special commission on the issue of arranging fortifications and purchasing drones, many of the contractors have already begun to complete previously unfinished works or improve their quality.
People's Deputy Mykhailo Tsimbalyuk told Suspilno about this 10 June 2024.
"It seems to me that it is a merit of the fact that TSK was created," said Tsymbalyuk.
According to him, a lot of information about fortifications has been received, which is subject to thorough processing. He added that it is a very large amount of work, because it is necessary to analyze why certain funds were allocated to this or that loan manager. And also — what were the contractors and technical characteristics.
As Tsimbalyuk explained, it became clear that everything being built in terms of fortifications is being built by order of military units that operationally serve this or that territory. Their task, and engineering troops and others work in the structure, is to territorially form where the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd lines of defense are located, what the technical characteristics of these structures should be, how they are built and with what quality. And only the military, after the completion of these works, take them into operation, because they are the customer of these structures.
"There is a lot of work, but we need to be very careful about various facts that are being checked, because the enemy also uses such information that comes from members of the TSK," said the People's Deputy.
He added that it should not be forgotten that the construction, especially of the 1st and 2nd lines, is under fire from the Russian army.
"When the military is involved in the first line, that's one thing, and the second line — as a rule, its executors will be civilians. And there, equipment is destroyed, and people are injured. In most cases, it was carried out professionally, this is what we know and that we managed to get information," said Tsymbalyuk.
Regarding the shortcomings, he suggested waiting for the interim report of TSK.
At its meeting on May 22, the Verkhovna Rada voted to create a temporary special commission on fortifications and the purchase of drones . The corresponding decision was supported by 277 deputies. Mykola Zadorozhnyi from "Servant of the People" became the head of the commission.
The powers of the TSC include studying the circumstances and preparing questions regarding:
the needs of the security and defense sector in unmanned aerial vehicles and the formation of a state order for the production and purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles;
analysis of the practice of distribution, transfer, supply and taking on balance of unmanned aerial vehicles to military units and units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations formed in accordance with the laws of Ukraine;
arrangement of fortification structures, engineering barriers on the line of contact and targeted use of funds allocated for their arrangement.
Ukrainian media reported in May 2024 that military and civilian authorities in Kharkov Region had paid millions of dollars to fake companies for the supply of non-existent construction materials to build fortifications. According to Ukrainian anti-corruption activists, Kharkov Region authorities alone embezzled or stole 7 billion hryvnias ($176.5 million) that they had been given to build fortifications along the border. The lack of defenses has resulted in Russian troops overrunning a dozen settlements in quick succession.
For the supply of wood, the Kharkov Department of Housing and Communal Services and OVA Regional Military Administration signed contracts worth 270 million hryvnias ($6.8 million) with five companies that had been set up immediately after the contracts were announced. No bidding process took place, and at least two of these companies were owned by the same person, an anti-corruption report claimed.
In May, Russia launched a large-scale offensive on Kharkov Region, capturing multiple towns and villages. Some Ukrainian troops, including Denis Yaroslavsky, a commander active in the area, blamed their superiors for putting up inadequate defenses, claiming they may have embezzled money intended for their construction.
Nearly $500 million given to Kiev for the construction of defensive fortifications to repel Russia’s advance has been embezzled or stolen, media reported on 10 June 2024, citing Mikhail Bondar, a member of the Ukrainian parliament. Ukrainian law enforcement authorities have launched around 30 criminal proceedings linked to the embezzlement of 20 billion hryvnias ($491 million), Bondar told lawmakers at a closed-door session of the parliamentary investigative commission on fortifications, according to multiple media reports. In the absence of defensive fortifications, Russian forces have made rapid advances in the country.
“Members of the commission from Servants of the People [Ukraine’s ruling party], when they heard such figures, immediately tried to defend the managers of the funds,” Bondar said. However, he claimed that the “lion’s share” of the funds had been disbursed through Ukraine’s military and civil authorities, which the MP described as the “vertical of the president.” Ukrainian lawmakers have urged the defense ministry, as well as local military authorities, to provide information on the use of budget funds for the construction of defenses.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal inspected the construction of fortifications in the Kherson region and said that the state of construction work is already 97% complete. The head of government announced this in Telegram 25 July 2024. "Today we are visiting the Kherson region. We inspected the construction of fortifications. At the request of the Armed Forces Command, we are constantly building and improving defensive lines. The head of the RMA reported on the work in this area. In Kherson region, the state of construction work is currently 97%," he wrote.
Shmyhal added that the construction of fortifications is a priority task for every head of the frontline regions. The Prime Minister reminded that this year the Cabinet of Ministers has allocated over UAH 2 billion to Kherson region for its implementation. As reported by Ukrinform, Shmyhal said that in 2022-2024, the government had allocated more than UAH 30 billion for the construction of fortifications.
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