Ukraine braces for expected new Russian onslaught, with or without Western tanks
CBC
Exactly where and when Russia will launch its expected next offensive no one can be sure, but Ukrainian soldier Volodymyr Tereshchenko wants to ensure any Russian he confronts regrets it.
Tereshchenko, a burly, bearded 50-year-old, is part of Ukraine's northern defensive line, tasked with securing the marshy, forested terrain along the border with Belarus and — more to the point — preventing Russian forces from making another assault on the capital Kyiv and other Ukrainan cities.
In the days after Russia's invasion last February, troops attempted to take Chernihiv, about 50 kilometres from Tereshchenko's position, with thousands of soldiers swarming through the area.
The Russians were eventually driven back, but not before inflicting heavy damage on the city and terrorizing its population.
CBC News visited the recently constructed complex of trenches and fortifications along the defensive line and spoke to soldiers and commanders.
"They [the Russians] are preparing for something, but we are also prepared," Tereshchenko said.
"We have mine fields here, the roads are also mined. And there are other [armoured] battalions ready to react if something will happen on the border. We have a plan for our defence."
Precisely where and when Russia's army will strike may be the most pressing question in Ukraine — along with whether Germany will permit the export of Leopard 2 heavy tanks by European nations so that Ukraine can strengthen its defences and possibly launch its own counter-offensive to recapture Russian-occupied territory.
Ukrainian military commanders have said they believe the chance of Russia invading through Belarus again is low, but remains a possibility.
The commander at the border fortifications is a masked soldier who asked CBC to use his nickname, Dunai, which is the name of a local river.
"Yes, we were under their occupation but we will never allow this to be repeated again," he said.
Along with a network of trenches, tank traps and concrete fortifications, the CBC team also saw several heavy machine nests, but no tanks or other heavy armour. Dunai insisted they are present but out of sight for security reasons.
The line of contact between Ukrainian and Russian forces is almost 900 kilometres long, stretching from the Belarus border to the Kherson region near the Black Sea in the south.
While the line has been more or less static since Ukraine's re-capture of the city of Kherson and the right bank of the Dnipro River in November, the notable exception has been around the Donbas city of Bakhmut.
