 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (September 2023)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
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Russia has built numerous defense lines in Ukraine during its invasion.
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The Surovikin Line is a complex set of fortifications in southeastern Ukraine, engineered by and named for Russian general Sergey Surovikin. Surovikin had the line built during his tenure as the overall theater commander immediately after Ukraine's 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive. [1] The line was breached by the Ukrainians in the 2023 Summer Counteroffensive, but was retaken by Russian Forces on March 7th 2024.
The Wagner Line (Russian : линия Вагнера, romanized: liniya Vagnera, Ukrainian : лінія Вагнера, romanized: liniya Vahnera) is a defense line built in eastern Ukraine by the Wagner paramilitary group during the Russo-Ukrainian War.
On 19 October 2022, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the paramilitary group Wagner, [2] announced that he had begun the construction of a defense line. [3]
The aim is to prevent Ukrainian troops from advancing towards the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, which was annexed by Russia in September. [4] [5]
According to the Russian media, it is a "second line of defence in case the Ukrainian armed forces try to penetrate the area. [6] [7]
In a report dated 21 November 2022, the British Ministry of Defence considered that Moscow prioritized the construction of defensive positions on the Svatove–Kreminna line. [8]
The line consists of two double rows of pyramidal concrete blocks called "dragon's teeth" to block tanks from advancing. [9] [10] [11] [12] Between these two defensive curtains, a deep trench and firing stations complete the device. [10] It is not known whether the line has mines. [9]
The project foresees about 200 km (120 mi) of fortifications in eastern Ukraine, up to the Russian border. [10] [13] [14] The line shall extend on a south-north axis starting from the city of Svitlodarsk, along the front line to the Donets River, and then form an acute angle again eastwards, following the course of the river to the border. [2]
Andrey Bogatov, another leader of the Wagner Group, said that construction of the line had also begun in Belgorod Oblast, Russia. [15]
Several experts questioned the efficiency of the line.
For Xavier Tytelman, a conflict observer and defence consultant, "The dragon's teeth should be partially buried so that only the tip can pass through. A simple armoured bulldozer is enough to turn them over". [16]
According to the Ukrainian Governor of Luhansk Region, Serhiy Haidai, only 2 km have been built to date. [2] [17] The ABC News considers -through the study of satellite photos - that 12 km have been built. [18]
According to the ISW, Prigozhin's proposed extension of the Wagner Line is intended to defend the border between Belgorod Oblast and the Ukrainian oblasts of Sumy, Kharkiv and Luhansk, but "would not cover the northern part of Luhansk Oblast up to the line of contact with the occupied territories, thus contradicting the Kremlin's promises to defend the entire Luhansk region". [19]
Dragon teeth are not buried or camouflaged, which, according to a BBC article, severely limits their effectiveness. [20]
It may also be noted that the line does not protect the city of Sievierodonetsk. [14] The local authorities in Belgorod have already asked the Wagner Group to stop the construction of the trenches. [21]
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Belgorod Oblast is a federal subject of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Belgorod. As of 2021, the population is 1,540,486.
Luhansk Oblast, also referred to as Luhanshchyna (Луга́нщина), is the easternmost oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Luhansk. The oblast was established in 1938 and bore the name Voroshilovgrad Oblast until 1958 and again from 1970 to 1991. It has a population of 2,102,921.
Dragon's teeth are pyramidal anti-tank obstacles of reinforced concrete first used during the Second World War to impede the movement of tanks and mechanised infantry. The idea was to slow down and channel tanks into killing zones where they could easily be disposed of by anti-tank weapons.
Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, primarily the People's Militias of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), were pro-Russian paramilitaries in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. They were under the overall control of the Russian Federation, and were also referred to as Russian proxy forces. They were active during the war in Donbas (2014–2022), the first stage of the Russo-Ukrainian War. They then supported the Russian Armed Forces against the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the 2022 Russian invasion. In September 2022, Russia annexed the DPR and LPR, and began integrating the paramilitaries into its armed forces. They are designated as terrorist groups by the government of Ukraine.
RT France, also known as RT en français, was the French version of the Russian state-controlled news channel RT. The channel was based in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and was funded by the Russian government.
Sergey Vladimirovich Surovikin is a Russian army general who serves as head of the Coordinating Committee for Air Defence under the Council of Defence Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) since September 2023.
The Wagner Group, officially known as PMC Wagner is a Russian state-funded private military company (PMC) controlled until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Putin. The Wagner Group has used infrastructure of the Russian Armed Forces. Evidence suggests that Wagner has been used as a proxy by the Russian government, allowing it to have plausible deniability for military operations abroad, and hiding the true casualties of Russia's foreign interventions.
The 56th Motorized Brigade is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. The brigade was activated on 23 February 2015 in the city of Dnipro in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and took command of three volunteer territorial defence battalions. The brigade fought in the Russo-Ukrainian War and has functioned as a motorized brigade.
Dmitry Valerievich Utkin was a Russian military officer and mercenary. He served as a special forces officer in the GRU, where he held the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was the co-founder and military commander of the Russian state-funded Wagner Group, with his military alias reportedly being Wagner. Utkin was reportedly a neo-Nazi. He rarely made public appearances, but was allegedly the commander of the private military company, while Yevgeny Prigozhin was its owner and public face. Utkin was awarded four Orders of Courage of Russia.
Novopskov is an urban-type settlement in the Starobilsk Raion of Luhansk Oblast in Ukraine. It is located on the Aidar, a left tributary of the Donets, in the basin of the Don. Population: 9,392 Prior to 2020, it was the administrative centre of the former Novopskov Raion.
Ukraine's easternmost oblasts, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv, are the site of a theatre of operation in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The town of Borodianka was bombed extensively by the Russian Armed Forces during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Several attacks in mainland Russia, primarily in the Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod oblasts, have been reported since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February 2022. Russia accused Ukraine of being responsible for these attacks.
The torture of Russian soldiers in Mala Rohan was an incident during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine that occurred in the village of Mala Rohan. As documented by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, members of Ukrainian armed forces shot the legs of three captured Russian soldiers and tortured Russian soldiers who were wounded. The incident is likely to have occurred on the evening of March 25, 2022 and was first reported following the publication on social media of a video of unknown authorship between March 27 and March 28. As a case of summary execution and torture of prisoners of war, the incident might qualify as a war crime.
Oleksiy Opanasovych Vadaturskyi was a Ukrainian agricultural and grain logistics businessman and the founder of Nibulon, the largest grain logistics company in Ukraine. He was one of the wealthiest Ukrainians.
Since 19 September 2022, a military campaign has taken place along a 60-km frontline in western parts of Luhansk Oblast and far-eastern parts of Kharkiv Oblast amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Also known as the Svatove–Kreminna line or the Kupiansk–Svatove–Kreminna–Bilohorivka line after the major settlements along the front, the campaign began a day after the Ukrainian Army recaptured the nearby city of Lyman during the Kharkiv counteroffensive after of which the front line froze over the next few months.
Yevgeny Anatolyevich Nuzhin was a convicted Russian murderer who enlisted in Wagner Group during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This timeline of the Russian invasion of Ukraine covers the period from 12 November 2022, following the conclusion of Ukraine's Kherson and Kharkiv counteroffensives, to 7 June 2023, the day before the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive began. Russia continued its strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure while the Battle of Bakhmut escalated.
The Wagner Group, also known as PMC Wagner, a Russian paramilitary organization also described as a private military company (PMC), a network of mercenaries, and a de facto unit of the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) or Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, has conducted operations in Ukraine since early 2014.
Trauma has affected military veterans and civilian populations exposed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
