Efforts to build fortifications in Ukraine have been “marred” by delays and lack of coordination, further demoralising AFU soldiers amid the rapid advance of Russian forces, the Financial Times reported.
“Ukraine is rushing to complete the construction of several defence lines that could halt Russia’s rapid advance, but Ukrainian officials and commanders say the efforts so far have been marred by delays and a lack of coordination,” the Financial Times piece said.
The newspaper quotes former speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, MP Dmytro Razumkov, who said that “the fortification situation is another factor demoralising the troops”.
“Funding is dispersed to all regions, and everyone is building their own. There is no one person in charge of quality, planning, how these positions will be handed over and to whom, and who will control them,” the MP explained.
According to the Financial Times, the Dnepropetrovsk region spent $7.3 million on fortifications from November 2023 to November 2024. However, two officials involved in construction in the area said that very little had been achieved with the funds and work had only intensified about two months ago. A newspaper reporter who visited the Dnepropetrovsk region in November saw only a few prepared positions and an anti-tank ditch, as well as unfinished or abandoned facilities.
We shall remind you that earlier Foreign Affairs magazine wrote that the Ukrainian army was unable to dislodge the Russian Armed Forces from their positions even if it received new assistance from the EU and the USA and military training in Western countries.