Russia Managed to Break Though Ukraine Defensive Line Once, Will Do This Again – Retired Colonel
© Sputnik / Pavel Lisitsyn
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Ukraine is going to build a three-tiered defense line, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated at a press briefing on January 24 after a meeting with his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico in Uzhgorod.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on Wednesday that the Kiev regime had embarked on constructing a new defensive line, adding that Slovakia had agreed to send Ukraine armored excavators and demining equipment.
According to Shmyhal, the Ukrainian government "has allocated tens of billions of hryvnias" for the endeavor.
"This indicates that Ukraine is moving from a strategic offensive to a strategic defense, because their strategic offensive became a disaster," retired Russian Army colonel and veteran military analyst Viktor Litovkin told Sputnik. "They lost about 160,000 people and several dozen units of armored combat vehicles and did not move a meter inside the Russian defense lines. Therefore, they have now lost the initiative on the battlefield.
"They are now forced to go on the defensive," Litovkin added. "The defense line should be built, engineering structures must be arranged on the line of defense, and a deeply echeloned three-tiered defense system should be created. Many elements of this line of defense must be built in order to reliably ensure protection."
Asked what is behind the timing of Shmyhal's announcement, Litovkin responded that the Kiev regime urgently needs money as Western financial aid has almost run out. The veteran military analyst said Kiev's announcement does not necessarily mean that the proposed sophisticated defenses would in fact be built.
"Regarding whether they will build [this three-tiered defense line] or not – it all depends on how fast Russia will advance, whether they will have the opportunity to have time to build these multi-layered defenses," Litovkin said. "Secondly, [it depends] on how much money they will steal from the construction of this defensive line. We remember how Ukraine built a fence on the border with Russia. Where is this fence? Where is the money that the former leaders of Ukraine allocated for [the construction]?"
It's not the first time that the Ukrainian leadership has raised the defense line issue. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on December 1 that he was considering building defensive structures from Donbass to Western Ukraine.
"I held a meeting where we discussed the construction of fortifications on the main defensive lines. These are the Avdeevka, Maryino, Kupyansk-Liman directions, as well as the frontier regions bordering Russia and Belarus," Zelensky wrote on his Telegram account.
At the time, Russian military observers had calculated that it would take at least eight to nine months to build such a line, let alone a multi-layered defensive system, and cost at least $10 billion. The total length of the structure would be at least 2,800 km (1,700 miles), according to their estimates.
Russian military expert Ivan Konovalov told Sputnik last December that the Kiev regime's declarations should be taken with a grain of salt. Konovalov argued that the West is unlikely to subsidize the endeavor especially given the West's growing concerns about Ukraine's endemic corruption.
Meanwhile, Litovkin suggested that even if the line is built, it is unlikely to stop Russia's advance or prevent Moscow from accomplishing the special military operation's objectives.
"If this line is built, it, of course, may delay our offensive, but in no way will it hinder the determination of [the Russian] Armed Forces to fulfill the tasks set by the president. Namely: to ensure the security of our country, to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine. We have already breached the defense lines of Ukraine. We already had this experience," Litovkin concluded.
