Ukrainian soldiers near Zaporizhia practice firing an RPG-7 bazooka. On the other hand, anyone who seeks to fight in open trenches no longer has a chance in the drone-infested Ukraine War.image: Andriy Andriyenko/AP
Ukraine is preparing for a long defensive battle. A new system of barrier systems also serves this purpose. A look at the east and southeast of the country.
Feb 12, 2026, 10:39 p.mFeb 12, 2026, 10:39 p.m
Kurt Pelda, Nowomikolaivka / ch media
An icy wind blows through the town, which mainly consists of single-story, detached houses. An electric utility employee goes from one building to the next and reads the electricity meters. Despite many outages, there is still electricity here. The woman doesn’t allow herself to be disturbed in her work when the air alarm siren begins to wail. There has to be order.
Valeriy, an officer in a brigade stationed in the region, says that the town is the target of Russian glide bombs almost every night. But the front is still too far away for artillery fire. However, drones could easily reach the town, with the Russians concentrating on supply vehicles and other important targets.
The barriers were moved to the west.map: ch media
Advance from the wrong direction
The town, which had around 5,000 inhabitants before the war, seems insignificant at first glance. The question of how far it is to the front can no longer be answered as easily as it used to be, because as drone warfare develops, the “grey zone” – the no-man’s land between Russian and Ukrainian positions that is controlled by neither side – has expanded significantly. It can be said with some certainty that the nearest Russian positions are at most 30 kilometers away. The gray zone reaches a depth of up to eight kilometers.
Without a doubt, Novomikolaivka is an important hub for Ukrainian supplies. But what significance does the town have beyond that? The town is located on the road that connects the steppe in the southeast with the industrial center of Zaporizhia. For a long time, the Ukrainians in this area expected a Russian attack from the south, i.e. from the coastal areas on the Sea of Azov. Most of the fortification lines therefore ran from west to east, but since last summer the Kremlin’s troops have been advancing primarily from the east.
Drone view of the barriers near Novomikolajivka.image: x
Ukraine therefore had to quickly build new defensive positions, this time running from north to south. These fortifications make a wide berth to the east around the town and reach a continuous length of more than 80 kilometers. They are part of a staggered defense system several hundred kilometers long, stretching from Isium in the northeast to about 40 kilometers south of Novomikolaivka.
Student evaluates satellite images
We owe the mapping of these fortifications to a young Frenchman who says he studies international relations. Clément Molin evaluates satellite images that make it easy to follow the Ukrainians’ construction progress and plots the barriers on maps. He publishes these on the platform
In fact, Novomikolaivka is surrounded by the barrier on three sides, and further west of it there is another on the way to the big city of Zaporizhia. On the hills northwest of Kramatorsk, I pass two barriers in my car, just a few kilometers apart. The relatively new facilities are also clearly visible at Isium in Kharkiv Oblast.
The fortifications no longer have anything in common with the old trenches, which were built in 2023 for a lot of money and are now obsolete. Anyone who “hides” in an open trench these days doesn’t live long. Only trenches that are covered or at least protected with nets offer protection from drone attacks. But the new barriers are not manned at all. They simply help to stop and channel Russian advances, for example where the construction companies have left gaps for roads or railway lines. Videos captured by Ukrainian drones clearly show the horrific losses suffered by the Russians when breaking through such breaches – without ever seeing a Ukrainian soldier.
Infiltration tactics at the end?
You have to know that the Russians rarely attack with tanks anymore because they have little chance against the Ukrainian drones. At the same time, the Ukrainians are suffering from a lack of personnel and cannot protect the entire front. That’s why small groups, sometimes just two or three soldiers, infiltrate the gray zone and bypass Ukrainian bunkers. They try to get as far into the hinterland as possible and look for a place to hide there. Then they wait for reinforcements until there are enough forces to attack the Ukrainians from behind and sow chaos.
This attack tactic is made very difficult by the barriers. An obstacle is up to 150 meters deep. First there are rolls of razor wire stacked on top of each other, followed by a first anti-tank ditch filled with barbed wire. Then you have to overcome three rows of concrete obstacles, so-called dragon’s teeth. The fourth barrier is another anti-tank ditch filled with barbed wire and, at the back, rolls of razor blades stacked on top of each other.
A Ukrainian rocket launcher fires on Russian targets in Donbass.image: Handout/Keystone
Small groups of two to three soldiers can hardly pass such a barrier; this would require heavy equipment. But even if a breach were to occur, a lot of time would be lost and the Russian engineering troops would be exposed to drone or artillery attacks. In addition, on particularly contested sections of the front, such as near Pokrovsk, up to three barriers are staggered one behind the other. These are sometimes even divided into individual chambers where drones and artillery can more easily kill invading Russians.
Only a few troops needed
The huge system requires relatively few troops to defend. It is also supplemented by older fortifications that are closer to the main battle line. For such large works, the work must be carried out far from the front so that the construction crews and their excavators are not attacked by drones themselves. That’s why the new barriers are largely outside the area that the Kremlin desperately wants to conquer. In particular, Putin is focusing on four “fortress cities” in Donbass, including Kramatorsk. In the unlikely event that Kiev were to cede these territories in a diktat peace, the new barriers would only be partially affected. However, it is more likely that the Ukrainian military leadership wants to use the buildings to protect itself against the possible future loss of these fortresses.
However, for Valery, the officer fighting with his soldiers southeast of Novomikolaivka, this is little consolation, because the barriers are behind him and do not yet help with defense. The Russians have made particularly rapid advances in this region in recent months. “It happens again and again that our unit retreats and moves into new quarters,” says Valerij, “only to realize one morning after a short time that the drones’ death zone has already reached our sleeping place again.”
There are now unconfirmed reports that the Ukrainians have launched a counteroffensive southeast of Novomikolaivka. They are probably trying to take advantage of the fact that Elon Musk has disconnected the Russian Starlink terminals from the Internet. This is said to have led to a breakdown in communication between Russian troops. Kyiv has now imposed an information blackout on the area. (aargauerzeitung.ch)