Ukraine enters new round of war, new defense strategy against Russian attack is being implemented

Ukraine is entering a new phase of war with Russia, where the main thing is to dig. The Ukrainian forces, designed to perform combat missions, are forced to dig trenches in anticipation of a large-scale offensive, which the invaders may launch this spring.
At the moment, Russian troops are attacking Ukrainian forces at several points along the 600-mile front line as it seeks to capitalize on its recent capture of the eastern city of Avdiivka, its first major battlefield victory in months. Moscow knows Ukrainian units are short on fresh soldiers and ammunition, but Kyiv is "preparing": the lands west of Avdiivka are filled with excavators – the front is more like a construction site than a battlefield, emphasizes The Wall Street Journal.
The publication claims that Ukraine is trying to build fortifications similar to those that Russia built a year ago – the enemy's defence showed "deadly effectiveness" and deterred the offensive of Ukrainian troops last summer. Kyiv is facing the same task now. Troops are carving up the earth to create antitank ditches and trenches, especially in areas near Avdiivka.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that almost $800 million, had been allocated for the construction of fortifications.
Franz-Stefan Gady, a Vienna-based defense analyst who recently toured front-line areas in the eastern Donbas region, gives an alarming prognosis:
"The lack of layered defenses along the front line should be of some concern for Ukraine. The situation will get quite critical for the Ukrainian forces."
At the same time, soldiers in the combat zone near Avdiivka admit that combat conditions leave them no other options. "In the circumstances we’re in, we have to dig, entrench and build by ourselves," said Maksym Zhorin, the Deputy Commander of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade.
Thus, troops assigned to combat missions are forced to dig trenches, and often under fire. But the difficulty lies in the fact that there is little effort on the part of the personnel to build effective fortifications, the WSJ emphasizes.
Zhorin hopes the line of defense toward the city of Pokrovsk to the west is sufficiently developed to withstand an expected Russian assault in the coming weeks.