• Ukraine might have to construct defenses while fending off Russian attacks due to planning problems and shortages.

• Ukraine missed the opportunity to build strong defensive fortifications outside Avdiivka.

• Ukraine's military has resorted to crowdfunding to procure construction equipment.

Ukrainian forces outside recently captured Avdiivka are outgunned, short on critical supplies, and fighting against a Russian advance from defensive positions that are far from formidable, according to recent reporting.

Planning missteps and various shortages saw Ukraine miss the opportunity to build up defensive lines in a key sector of the front, meaning Ukraine's military may now have to do it while fending off Russian attacks, which could make this endeavor exponentially more difficult.

Satellite imagery of the Ukrainian positions shows largely basic defenses. "The quality of these defensive lines cannot be good enough to resist massive bulldozer tactics by the Russian forces," Serhiy Hrabskyi, a retired Ukrainian Army colonel, told The New York Times.

He said that Ukraine has not placed enough emphasis on building defenses, but also shortages in manpower and equipment have been a problem. Construction has fallen behind. "We have a lack of engineering units. And even the units we have lack equipment," he said.

Ukraine's military began the planning process for defensive fortifications near Avdiivka just three months ago, but there's been limited progress, The Times reported. Ukraine has built pretty basic trench lines but not much else.

For comparison, Russia began plotting its defensive strategy in southern Ukraine over six months before Ukraine's counteroffensive, fortifying positions with multiple layers of threats and obstacles such as land mines, dragon's teeth, anti-vehicle ditches, trenches, and more, all backed by infantry, artillery, and aircraft.

Russian forces have made further gains since the capture of Avdiivka in February, recently capturing three villages in a week's time, but experts have said the terrain may complicate the Russian advance. If it slows the Russians, it might give Ukraine time to build up and improve its defenses, but only time will tell.

War experts have said that digging in is key to Ukraine staying in the fight, and in November, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy called for a focus on construction outside Avdiivka, which was more heavily defended than some of the surrounding areas Russia is targeting now.

But so far, the results, a satellite imagery analyst told The Times, "do not yet constitute a particularly formidable defensive line."

Elements of the Ukrainian military have taken up crowdfunding as a way to source money for construction equipment like excavators. This equipment can be expensive to acquire though, as an excavator and a utility vehicle combined cost over $70,000.

While some of these fundraising efforts have been successful on a smaller scale, on a larger scale, Ukraine is, as it has been for months now, still waiting for the much-needed aid from the US, which is stalled in Congress.

During a conference in Kyiv on February 25, Zelenskyy said that funding is needed within a month and that Ukraine will be "weaker" on the front lines without it.

Ukrainian troops are crowdfunding for the construction vehicles desperately needed for new defenses

• The Ukrainian military is crowdfunding to buy equipment to defend itself against Russia.

• The equipment will be used to build fortifications and aid in evacuations.

• Experts have said that digging in with strong defenses is critical to staying in the fight.

A front-line Ukrainian military unit is turning to crowdfunding for the construction tools to build defenses to blunt Russian advances and shield Ukraine's soldiers.

"We need your help to purchase an excavator to build fortifications," a Ukrainian soldier with the 26th Artillery Brigade said in a fundraising message posted on X by Ukrainian combat veteran Constantine Kalinovskiy on Monday. "You can help save not one but many lives of our service members and bring us one step closer to victory," the message said.

The fundraiser, which was started by the Liberty Ukraine Foundation, calls for $72,000 in donations for the purchase of a backhoe excavator to help build shelters and trenches. The donations would also go toward a vehicle that would be used for evacuations and utilities.

"The excavator is a very important tool to protect very expensive equipment an the lives of the soldiers," Kalinovskiy, an LUF fundraiser, wrote. "It's used to dig deep into the ground and save from incoming missiles and artillery."

He added that donations for this expensive equipment would help defenders stand their ground as the "war enters a new phase."

One excavator, Kalinovskiy shared, has already been delivered to the 59th Brigade, "and it's already digging the trenches and saving Ukrainian lives on the Avdiivka axis."

Ukraine doesn't have the war materiel, ammo in particular, for offensive operations, but experts have said that maintaining a strong defense could put Ukraine on track to achieve a victory.

"We cannot enable Ukraine to take back all its territory, but we can enable Ukraine to deny Putin further gains," Henry L. Stimson Center senior fellow Emma Ashford said during a Defense Priorities panel in February.

Ashford has advocated for increasing static fortifications and digging in, among other defensive tactics, as Ukraine enters its third year of war against Russia.

Rob Lee, an expert who has followed the war closely as well, wrote on X that "building better fortifications, including for artillery, is one of the most effective ways Ukrainian units can partially compensate for a lack of ammunition."

The fundraiser for the 26th Artillery Brigade exceeded its goal, reaching $72,765 as of Tuesday morning, but the larger Ukrainian military is still waiting anxiously for further assistance, specifically an aid package for Ukraine that has been hung up in Congress by American politics since October.

Ukraine Destroys Russia’s Brand-New $65 Million Warship

Ukraine has destroyed the newest patrol ship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the $65 million Sergei Kotov, and left pro-Kremlin war reporters sulking.

“As a result of a strike by Magura V5 maritime drones, the Russian Project 22160 ship Sergei Kotov received damage to the stern, starboard and left sides,” Ukrainian military intelligence said in a statement.

“The fewer such ships, the fewer anti-aircraft missile systems will be deployed on them, meaning more opportunities for Ukrainian security and defense forces,” spokesman Andriy Yusov told local media, adding that more than 10 ambulances were spotted rushing to help the evacuated crew members. At least seven crew members were killed, Ukrainian authorities said.

Audio of what Ukraine described as an intercepted radio communication also appeared to capture a Russian commander reporting on the “tragic event” and destruction of the ship, lamenting that a helicopter had also been obliterated in the nighttime attack near the Kerch Strait.

The 308-foot, 1,700-ton ship entered the Black Sea Fleet in July 2022.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has yet to comment on the incident, though pro-Kremlin military bloggers begrudgingly admitted that Ukraine had pulled off the attack.

“If it continues like this, the Black Sea Fleet will have only catamarans and rubber banana boats for vacationers. It’s fucked,” wrote one popular pro-war Telegram channel.

The Sergei Kotov had been targeted in three previous attacks by Ukrainian forces before finally being taken out this time around. Noting that Russia had plenty of defenses in place to protect the ship, pro-war propagandist Alexander Kots said that “unfortunately, the enemy is also evolving.”

“The crew fought heroically until the end. … But this time it is a story without a happy ending,” he wrote on social media.

“The ship ‘Sergei Kotov’ sunk,” wrote former Vladimir Putin adviser Sergei Markov, calling it part of a “new type of war” in which “what matters most are the multitude of drones, space reconnaissance, and electronic warfare.”

“This is where we need to overtake the West,” he said.