Roman Starovoyt, governor of Kursk Oblast in Russia, built fake defense fortifications along the region's border with Ukraine, according to images of the structures obtained by Ukraine's National Resistance Center on Aug. 20.
Starovoyt allegedly spent 10 billion rubles on the construction of the imitation defense lines.
"The work on staffing and construction of two reinforced defense lines has been completed in the Kursk region. The work was carried out jointly with the Ministry of Defense of Russia and the Border Management of Kursk Oblast. The third line of defense will be ready by November 5," Starovoyt said.
Images of the newly fortified defense lines show unattended checkpoints. According to the National Resistance Center, almost the entire state border was unstaffed, and no soldiers have been seen patrolling.
The National Resistance Center did mention, however, that artillery is occasionally transported in the area, which is presumably used for attacking Ukraine's Sumy Oblast.
A recent report from Aug. 15 unveiled that Russia is planning to evacuate residents of Kursk "in the event of an accident at the nuclear power plant."
Kursk Oblast borders northeastern Ukraine. It has been the target of several strikes and drone attacks over the past several weeks. Directly across the border is Sumy Oblast, where Ukrainian settlements have endured daily attacks from Russian forces since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.