Ukrainian authorities present new wall along Russian border
The Zhuravlevka and Goptovka border crossing points along the Ukrainian-Russian border have been modernized as part of ‘The Wall’ project; the new enhancements were presented recently in the Kharkov region.
The First Deputy Chief of the State Border Service, Vasily Servatyuk, showed journalists the new engineering structures, samples of military equipment and the capabilities of the ‘smart border’ which will be used to protect military equipment, as reported by Correspondent.
Over 230 kilometers of anti-tank trenches, 45 kilometers of drag road, 103 kilometers of lateral roads and 75 kilometers of fences and lookout towers were established. Team sites were equipped for personnel and protective structures for passengers at the crossing points were also constructed at the border.
400 million Hryvnia ($15.8 million) were spent on the construction in the Kharkov and Chernigov regions in 2015. This year, the plan will be to start construction in the Luhansk region. More than 200 million UAH was allocated for this part of the project.
In 2014, ‘The Wall’ project along the Russian border was introduced by then Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk. In June of the same year, the Cabinet approved the project valued at $150 million.
To date, the project has been only been partially implemented in the Kharkov and Chernigov regions. The construction project along the border in the Sumy and Luhansk regions is expected to start this year and continue into 2017.