This year, the government will allocate an additional UAH 5.6 billion from the state budget to build reliable fortifications.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced this.

In addition to the UAH 20 billion already allocated for the construction of defense facilities, the government will provide an additional UAH 5.6 billion.

Of this amount, UAH 1.1 billion will be used to finance the construction of fortifications in the Donetsk region, more than UAH 1 billion for the Zaporizhzhia region, UAH 1.5 billion for the Sumy region, and UAH 300 million and 400 million for the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, respectively.

“We are working 24/7. All of this is necessary to strengthen our defense and protect our soldiers,” Shmyhal noted.

Construction of fortifications

The construction of a defense line is a set of works that includes, among other things, engineering work on the construction of trenches, communication passages, and the arrangement of dugouts, concrete shelters, firing positions, shelters for equipment, installation of engineering barriers, special concrete structures, etc.

Deputy Defense Minister Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk noted that the defense lines are being equipped by both the military, including units of the Support Forces Command, the State Transport Special Service, and civilian worker brigades.

If the security situation and weather permit, work on the fortification of the defense borders will continue virtually uninterrupted.

The funds were allocated to create high-quality, mostly concrete fortifications and engineering non-explosive barriers.

In March, during a working trip, Havryliuk traveled several hundred kilometers along the front line to inspect the work on the fortification of the defense lines.

“On the spot, together with parliament representatives and heads of regional military administrations, we assessed the situation and discussed problematic issues. Objectively, engineering work on the construction of defense lines has been recently accelerated. The weather has been favorable for several weeks now. New forces and technical capabilities have been deployed. The government has allocated the necessary funds,” Havryliuk said.

According to him, a plan for the fortification of the defense borders has been drawn up and approved, which defines the scope of work, deadlines, and those responsible for each area.