Ukraine additionally allocates close to $100 million for fortifications

The government has allocated an additional Hr 3.88 billion (almost $100 million) for the construction of fortifications, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on April 12.

Around Hr 1.7 billion ($43 million) will be devoted to building up defenses in Kharkiv Oblast and Hr 1.5 billion ($38 million) to Sumy Oblast. Additional funds will also be provided to Donetsk, Kherson, and Mykolaiv oblasts, Shmyhal said.

The Ukrainian authorities have faced criticism for slow progress on fortifying defensive lines. In March, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine was building 2,000 kilometers of fortifications across three lines of defense, adding that the "task is massive, but the pace is good."

The Ukrainian government has already allocated Hr 20 billion ($512 million) for building fortifications in 2024, Shymhal said in January.

Earlier this month, the government allocated an additional Hr 5.6 billion ($143 million) to fortify Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Sumy oblasts.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Ukrainian troops are building fortifications in expectation of a Russian offensive in the spring, though there are concerns that the progress is not fast enough.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with CBS News that a new major Russian offensive may come at the end of May or in June.

Ukraine finally moves to fortify front line, but could it be too little too late?

“If you want to live, dig.” The words, often spoken by Ukrainian troops, are universal advice for trench warfare in general, but especially for both sides in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Normally expressed as advice to the individual soldier, the maxim now applies to the country as a whole.

The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell