London is certain: the Russian armed forces are making considerable efforts to set up a new line of defense far away from the front in southern Ukraine. In its situation update on Tuesday morning, the British Ministry of Defense wrote that two factories in the long-fought port city of Mariupol were now churning out anti-tank traps. The so-called “Dragon’s Teeth” would probably also be laid along two lines between Mariupol and the villages of Nikolske and Staryi Krim. Further anti-tank barriers would be created in the Zaporizhia and Cherson areas in order to build defensive positions there as well.
It is not the first time that reception positions have been set up for Russian forces in Ukraine. After Ukraine’s surprising, rapid and extremely successful counter-offensive in the east of the country, satellite photos were published on October 22 showing similar preparations in Hirsk, around 70 kilometers from Luhansk. What is new, however, is that Russia is now apparently preparing for a Ukrainian offensive in the area of the land bridge to Crimea, which was conquered in the spring, roughly the strip between Mariupol in the east and the Cherson region in the west.
A number of Western experts have long argued that the land bridge could be one of the Ukrainians’ next targets, if only because of its strategic importance. In addition, the Ukrainians are currently no longer able to make any major advances in the Cherson regions and in the east of the country. A rapid advance at that point, given resources, climate and weather permitting, could unleash new momentum. Of course, the Russians know that too.
