Navy briefing: how Russia is fortifying its frontline for Ukraine’s counteroffensive

Ukraine’s months-long preparation for its subsequent counteroffensive to attempt to wrest again occupied territory has allowed Russia to fortify its positions alongside the virtually 1,000km frontline.

Satellite tv for pc photos reviewed by the Monetary Occasions and analysed by army specialists revealed a multi-layered Russian community of anti-tank ditches, mazes of trenches, concrete “dragon’s tooth” barricades, metal “hedgehog” obstacles, spools of razor wire and minefields.

“Russian forces actually appeared to understand . . . that lots of the terrain that they had management over was going to be tough to defend with out entrenched positions,” stated Brady Africk, an open-source intelligence researcher and analyst on the American Enterprise Institute who’s monitoring and mapping Russia’s defensive build-up.

Russia started digging in “in earnest” in November and when its troops took new territory they labored rapidly to entrench themselves, he stated, including that Russian forces had “ramped up” work on their fortifications just lately.

“There was a quick lull in winter, possible as a consequence of [the] floor freezing and it turning into tougher to dig,” Africk stated. “However for the reason that floor has softened, we’ve seen the digging of fortifications escalate dramatically, significantly up to now few months.”

Navy analysts stated these fortifications wouldn’t be sufficient to cease Ukrainian troops from advancing, however had been more likely to gradual the offensive.

The stakes for Ukraine are excessive. A profitable operation might give it important momentum because it tries to drive out Russian troops, persuade western companions to proceed their army help, and provides Kyiv leverage in any future negotiations with Moscow. It could additionally assist maintain morale excessive amongst Ukraine’s defiant however fatigued inhabitants, which has endured the horror of Russia’s full-scale invasion for 15 months.

There’s additionally a lot at stake for Russia. If Ukraine can take again management of the provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — which Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed final September — or of the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin seized in March 2014, it might deal a big blow to a army already exhibiting indicators of exhaustion and infighting.

Early indicators of Ukraine’s counteroffensive can already be seen in what army specialists check with as “shaping operations” — widespread ways used forward of a large-scale assault. Over the previous two weeks, Ukraine’s forces have carried out missile strikes and sabotage on Russian command and management centres, weapons depots and artillery methods.

Drone assaults and explosions focusing on army services in Russia, and even the Kremlin itself, additionally recommend Ukrainian involvement, in keeping with analysts, regardless of Kyiv’s denials. Earlier than Moscow claimed to have captured the embattled japanese metropolis of Bakhmut this weekend, Ukrainian troops had attacked Russian forces on their northern and southern flanks, recapturing just a few sq. kilometres of territory — their first good points within the space in months.

However observers are but to see an enormous thrust alongside the traces of the Ukrainian counteroffensive final autumn, when Kyiv’s forces swept via the north-eastern Kharkiv area and recaptured the southern metropolis of Kherson.

Breaking via Russia’s multi-layered defensive traces with out sustaining heavy losses could be extraordinarily tough, stated Mykola Bielieskov, a analysis fellow on the Kyiv-based Nationwide Institute for Strategic Research.

Success would require synchronising completely different items deploying armoured automobiles, artillery, mine-clearing and air defence, he added.

“On their very own, obstacles don’t cease advancing forces. They’ll solely [be effective] if manned correctly and complemented with artillery fireplace, aviation and manoeuvre of reserves.”

Rob Lee, a senior fellow on the Overseas Coverage Analysis Institute, an American think-tank, stated Russia’s fortifications had been designed to funnel Ukrainian troops in direction of areas the place they might come beneath intense fireplace.

“In case you have a number of traces of defence, even when Ukraine punches via the primary one efficiently, then Russia ought to have sufficient time to bolster a second or third,” he stated.

The south is more likely to be the primary focus for Ukrainian forces — one thing not misplaced on Moscow at the same time as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his army leaders have saved operational plans a intently guarded secret, specialists say.

“Round November and positively persevering with into the brand new 12 months, [Russian forces] ramped up building, significantly in southern Ukraine,” Africk stated. “The topography there’s a lot flatter and there are huge open fields. It grew to become a precedence for Russian forces to ensure that they had defensive traces [there].”

Satellite tv for pc photos present Russia’s most closely fortified part of the frontline is within the southern Zaporizhzhia province, the place Ukraine is anticipated to attempt to break via and sever the “land bridge” connecting Russian territory with occupied Crimea. The connection is essential for Russian army logistics and provides.

Russia has constructed an elaborate maze of anti-tank ditches, trenches, concrete and metal obstacles, razor wire and minefields within the space. The Berdyansk airfield close to the Sea of Azov, a hub for Russian army plane, has been surrounded by deep trenches and three traces of concrete “dragon’s tooth”.

Melitopol and Berdyansk had been “apparent” areas for Russian fortifications, Lee stated. If Ukraine took both, it will acquire important floor and allow its forces to hold out onward campaigns extra successfully, he added.

The northern border of Crimea has additionally been closely fortified. The defences stretch from Armyansk within the north to Dzhankoi within the north-west. Each are essential transport hubs and gateways to the peninsula. Dzhankoi additionally hosts a Russian army airfield.

Ukraine is more likely to utilise the scale of the battlefield to attempt to catch its enemy off guard. Regardless of Russia’s intensive defences, the sheer size of the frontline meant the Kremlin’s forces could be stretched, specialists stated.

“The size of the frontline works to our benefit,” stated Andriy Zagorodnyuk, chair of the Ukrainian Centre for Defence Methods and a former defence minister of Ukraine. “[Russian troops] are scattered round this frontline and we are going to all the time have the ability to discover areas the place they don’t count on us.”

Dara Massicot, a senior coverage researcher on the Rand Company, a US world coverage think-tank, stated Russia’s efficiency would depend upon a number of components, together with whether or not its frontline was manned by “exhausted or maltreated, inadequately skilled personnel”.

“The morale of Russian troopers is variable, from drained to dangerous — it issues,” she stated.

Lee stated different components included whether or not Russia had exhausted its munitions attempting to seize Bakhmut — the longest and bloodiest battle of the previous 12 months — and whether or not its newly mobilised forces had been prepared for the approaching battle.

“They don’t essentially have that a lot fight expertise. A whole lot of them have been simply holding trenches. Will they keep within the battle, or will they run?”

Cartography by Steven Bernard