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The Ukrainian government has allocated $509 million this year to
fortify both its border with Russia and the front line with
Russian forces across its east and south; Prime Minister Denys
Shmhyal promised $142 million more on Tuesday.
In Chernihiv region to the north of the capital Kyiv, dozens of
Ukrainian workers installed metal reinforcements and attached
poles and plastic sheeting along a trench wall late last month
while a digger cleared earth nearby.
"A bit further ahead is another line made up of 'dragon's
teeth', pyramidal obstacles to stop military hardware,"
contractor Yuri Ilyashek said, describing the three-layered
fortifications.
"And further still is the so-called anti-tank trench, very deep
and very wide, hundreds of meters long."
Russian troops poured across the nearby border in February 2022,
bearing down on Kyiv before being beaten back. The area has
since been regularly shelled.
With Russian forces pushing hard in the east and vital U.S.
military aid held up by months of Republican resistance in
Congress, the urgency has mounted.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned that Russia may plan to
mount a new offensive this spring or summer.
Ukraine has put down 100,000 "dragon's teeth" as part of
defenses stretching 2,000 km which allow for future advances,
Oleksiy Kuleba, a deputy head of Zelenskiy's office who is
overseeing the fortifications, told Reuters.
"The situation is dynamic. There will always be the need to
reinforce, build additional fortifications or change them. Work
will continue and go on even after our victory," he said.
In the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, one of the hottest
front line sectors, work goes on around the clock.
"Drones sent by the aggressor keep flying over us," said Maksym,
an engineer and building inspector, as a crane lifts reinforced
concrete into place and workers strip bark off logs.
"But we keep building. There is no other way."
(Additional reporting by Olena Harmash and Anna Dabrowska;
Writing by Ron Popeski; editing by Tom Balmforth and Philippa
Fletcher)
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