Kyiv building wall along Belarus border
Ukraine has started to build a fortified wall along its border with Belarus, a senior Ukrainian official has said, to protect it against its northern neighbour, whose territory Moscow has used as a staging ground for its invasion and a launchpad for missile attacks.
The wall could also be aimed at preventing the government in Belarus, a repressive former Soviet republic, from allowing asylum-seekers to traverse its territory into Ukraine, according to Yohann Michel, a research analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.
Construction extends only a few kilometres in the northwestern region of Volyn, a region that also borders Poland, a country that is a staunch Ukrainian ally. Video posted by Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a senior official in the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky showed a concrete barrier topped with coils of razor wire and watchtowers painted green.
While the wall was guarded by soldiers, its value appeared largely symbolic, given that the border between the two countries runs about 1,000km, although some of its length runs through terrain such as swampland that would be difficult for a military force to navigate. It was also unclear what protection the completed wall might offer against tanks or artillery.
“This is one of the elements of the engineering barriers that are being installed to protect our border,” Mr Tymoshenko said in a video he posted on the Telegram on Sunday that showed him inspecting the wall. “Of course, the work is going on not only in Volyn. This applies to all regions bordering Belarus and Russia.”
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko is a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Belarus over its support of the war. Since last month, Russia has launched a series of raids using drones made in Iran from Belarus that have damaged Ukraine’s towns, cities and energy infrastructure.
At the same time, Russia has amassed thousands of troops in Belarus along the Ukrainian border, according to Ukrainian officials, although their mission was unclear. Latvia defence minister Artis Pabriks said last month that the assembled force would likely be too weak to mount a successful thrust across the border, and experts say it would be difficult for it to penetrate into western Ukraine to disrupt the flow of Western military supplies to Ukraine via Poland.
Poland built a wall this year along its border with Belarus to make it harder for asylum-seekers to gain access, following a crisis a year ago in which thousands of people attempted to access the EU via Poland. European leaders accused Belarus of allowing asylumseekers from the Middle East into the country and then funnelling them westward towards Poland and Lithuania.
“Belarus can create more problems for Ukraine by forcing immigrants to cross by foot,” Mr Michel said.