Ukraine covers rear by boosting troops numbers on border with Belarus — expert

LUGANSK, April 23. /TASS/. Ukraine is covering its flanks and rear by increasing the number of troops along the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, military expert Andrey Marochko told TASS. Earlier, Marochko told TASS that Ukraine is increasing the number of troops along the Belarusian-Ukrainian border and erecting layered defenses. "With regard to the actions of the Ukrainian militants who are strengthening their defensive positions in the Chernigov and Sumy Regions on the border with Belarus, it seems that the Ukrainian command is trying to cover its rear and flanks so that a strike from Belarus is not carried out," he believes. Marochko also suggested that Kiev is building defenses on the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, including to "drain funds from the general defense budget. We all remember how all kinds of fortifications were built, including Yatsenyuk's fences (former Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk - TASS), where a huge amount of money was invested. And, of course, in fact it was pure fiction to simply steal the money. Perhaps [Vladimir] Zelensky together with the top military leadership decided to earn extra money - and with such an imaginary threat, he is siphoning off more money from his sponsors," he said. The idea of erecting "a wall" on the Ukrainian borders is not new. In 2014, Yatsenyuk, who was then the prime minister, came up with the initiative of the Wall project, presenting it as a 2,000-kilometer line of fortifications on the border with Russia. It was planned that the work would be completed in six months, but the deadlines were extended first until 2018, then until 2021, and later until 2025. In March 2016, investigators from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine opened a criminal case into the embezzlement of 16.7 million hryvnias (about $623,000) during the implementation of the Wall project, and in 2017, eight people suspected of involvement in the corruption scheme were detained.