Russia digs in awaiting Ukraine’s expected counterstrike
- Russian defensive wall runs from Kherson, in Ukraine’s south, to the northeast of the country, about 800km long
- Allies have sent Ukraine 1,550 combat vehicles, 230 tanks, and trained and equipped more than nine new brigades
Russia has boosted its defences in occupied Ukraine ahead of Kyiv’s anticipated counter-attack, wagering its position on 800km of triple-fortified lines and a gush of manpower.
Now that the Ukrainian terrain, muddied by the spring thaw, has begun to dry and Russia’s latest wave of attacks has fizzled out, a counterstrike may be weeks or perhaps days away.
The Russian defensive wall runs from Kherson, in Ukraine’s south, to the northeast of the country.
“These defensive lines consist of layered fortifications and trenches,” said Brady Africk at US think tank American Enterprise Institute.
They include anti-tank ditches, raised barriers, lines of prefabricated defences known as dragon’s teeth, landmines and trenches for personnel, he said.
The Russian objective is “to maintain control over occupied territory and to attempt to limit Ukraine’s ability to conduct a counteroffensive”, he said.