Clément Molin Profile picture
Apr 4 • 18 tweets • 7 min read • Read on X
100 km of kill zone, let's dive inside one of Ukraine's 🇺🇦 best defensive line

The Verkhnya Tersa line -with only 18 crossing over 100km- is one of the strongest and best prepared fortified line in Ukraine. Here is a detailed analysis :

🧵THREAD🧵1/18⬇️ Image
First "New Donbas Line" style prepared in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk region, this line is covered north of Novomykolaivka by 3 other lines, while only one before Novomykolaivka.

South of it, this line is the first defensive line, only protected by older line and barbed wire.Image
Here is a video from few months ago of the central part of this line, the one protecting Novomykolaivka.

This area of around 25 km is the most ready on the 100 km of that particular line. North of Novomykolaivka, barbed wire has not been installed, the frontline is too far.
As you can see, there are 18 rows of barbed wire on 6 different lines, including 3 at the bottom of anti-tank ditches and one on top of draon teeths.

There are as well three anti-tank ditches and anti-vehicle obstacles, the dragon teeths.

This is an obtsacle line. Image
Here is a closer view of a road, which is let open to allow logistics.

If the line is a problem for Russia, it can quickly become one for Ukraine as well, making any movement more difficult. We could see Ukraine forced to breach its one lines... Image
The revolution of these new lines are that they even cover forest, ponds and rivers. No more holes are let behind, except the prepared ones.

In total, 18 roads for 100 km is one every 5.5 km, but if we take only the part of the line south of Novomykolaivka, it's one every 6.6 km Image
With a 90° rotation, we can see how this line is meant to secure a large countryside area. Just behind are lying more than 170 small hidden positions for soldiers and drone teams. Image
To understand the scale of the line, here is where it is in Ukraine. This line is not even the longest continous one. For example, a line going from Ternuvate to Sloviansk is 250 km long !

Ones under construction could be even longer. Image
Here is a closer view of the weaker part of the line. South of Novomykolaivka, Ukraine switches from 3 to 2 anti-tank ditches (they are doing this when they don't have the time to dig a full line).

You can see a new line under construction west and few barbed wires. Image
Russia will be forced to push into open terrain with a lot of barbed wire. All this area will be under ukrainien fire control, which will be safe from infiltrations and attacks behind their lines.

These fields will create high attrition for russians that will struggle to push. Image
This strategy is being prepared everywhere with 3 to 6 lines !

Overall, we can see a grid being formed as I already talked about it in the past. Image
Let's get back to more recent images. Everyday that passes is an occasion to better the defenses. Ukrainian counter-attacks near Pokrovsk'e allowed the placement of 4 rows of barded wire which are roughly 100 meter large !

This was made to fill the holes in the lone ditch line. Image
Here too, we can see multiple rows of barbed wire being placed, both around a line that is under construction and also in the middle of fields. Image
To cover the roads, the ukrainians are now also digging a small corridor of around 100 meter along key roads, which will complicate the crossing of these roads. Image
In the north, Ukraine is now adopting 4 lines of barbed wire + 3 lines of ditches. This will be extremely deadly to cross. Image
Image
The last things : positions. The ukrainian forces are preparing small trenches that will be hidden in summer.

These are bunkers to hide infantry/drone teams... Other positions are everywhere as well. Image
Thanks for following this analysis on a particular sector of the defensive lines.

This line is interesting because it's finished, continuous and well built. If you want, I can do same for other lines, just tell me which ones ! Image
For the ones that are still saying that I'm helping Russia :
-I'm doing this in an analytical way, to understand where Russia will attack and Ukraine defend
-Ukrainian forces will need to know where are the safe roads, I can help them
-Russian forces are losing hundred of recon drones above these areas everyday, they know everything
-These are public images, accessible by everyone
-I'm doing same for Russia, but they are not digging any big line
-Russian bloggers are already doing their own maps, example : opor_2014

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More from @clement_molin

Jun 15
La guerre en Ukraine 🇺🇦/🇷🇺 a désormais dépassé la durée de la Première Guerre mondiale et pourrait encore durer plusieurs années.

Voici ce qu’il faut savoir en juin 2026 de ce conflit généralisé aux portes de l’Europe 🇪🇺 qui n'en finit plus.

🧵THREAD🧵1/10 ⬇️ Image
Quel est l’objectif de guerre de la Russie, pays agresseur ?

Les objectifs de guerre de la Fédération de Russie ont beaucoup évolué depuis quatre ans. Outre les déclarations officielles, le principal objectif russe est resté territorial et politique. Moscou cherchait, le 24 février, à vassaliser l’Ukraine tout en annexant une large région, la « Novorossia », entre Kharkiv, le Donbass et Odessa. Cet objectif a largement évolué, notamment après l’échec des offensives sur Kyiv, Kharkiv et Odessa.

Aujourd’hui, l’objectif territorial principal reste l’occupation de toute la région du Donbass, en particulier sa capitale de facto, Kramatorsk. Il est très probable que l’armée russe dispose de deux objectifs territoriaux secondaires : l’occupation complète des deux autres oblasts annexés, Kherson (ce qui est quasi impossible à l’heure actuelle) et Zaporijjia, et l’harmonisation de la ligne de front sur la rivière Oskil dans l’oblast de Kharkiv.

L’objectif politique initial — redonner à la Russie sa puissance d’antan, l’ancrer dans l’Eurasie, retrouver les populations, les industries, les mines et l’accès à la mer des deux voisins slaves (l’Ukraine et la Biélorussie) — reste inchangé. Sans l’Ukraine, la Russie est condamnée à être une puissance secondaire et plus largement asiatique, sa dimension d’empire s’effaçant avec la montée en parallèle de la démographie non slave.

Les autres objectifs qui ont pu jouer un rôle auparavant sont caduques aujourd’hui : la démilitarisation de l’Ukraine semble impossible, quatre ans de guerre d’attrition n’ayant pas conduit à un effondrement ukrainien. La dénazification, étendard pour parler de l’effacement du nationalisme ukrainien, est également un échec. Les nationalistes ukrainiens sont plus forts et décomplexés que jamais, représentant près de 100 000 hommes dans l’armée ukrainienne. Les figures antirusses controversées d’Europe centrale et orientale ont par ailleurs été réhabilitées. Empêcher l’OTAN et l’UE de s’étendre à l’Est était aussi un mirage. Bien que la considération eût été réelle, la Suède et la Finlande ont rejoint l’Alliance, tandis que la Moldavie, le Caucase du Sud, les Balkans occidentaux et l’Ukraine ont accéléré leur rapprochement avec l’Europe, tous brandissant la menace russe.

L’objectif russe est donc désormais d’installer la confrontation dans la durée, jusqu’à un effondrement hypothétique de l’aide à l’Ukraine (qui semble compromise par la dernière aide de l’UE), l’essoufflement de la population ukrainienne (une considération bien réelle mais qui n’impactera probablement pas la situation au front) ou une victoire à la Pyrrhus, que ce soit la prise du Donbass suivie d’un cessez-le-feu ou une capitulation de l’Ukraine comme la Finlande en 1940.Image
Quel est l’objectif de l’Ukraine, pays agressé ?

L’objectif de Kyiv a lui aussi beaucoup évolué. L’armée ukrainienne a été surprise par l’ampleur de l’offensive du 24 février, qui lui a fait perdre des territoires stratégiques, comme le sud du pays. L’objectif initial de survivre en tant qu’État a été largement assuré par les victoires à Kyiv, Kharkiv et Mykolaïv en 2022. Le second objectif, retrouver les frontières d’avant-guerre, a échoué en 2023 après l’échec des offensives ukrainiennes. Depuis cette date, les Ukrainiens ont pour objectif de tenir dans la durée, jusqu’à un essoufflement ou un retrait hypothétique des Russes.

Kyiv refuse de se retirer des territoires sous son contrôle, mais a déjà accepté l’idée de concessions territoriales, de manière non officielle, sur la Crimée, le sud et l’est du pays. Pour Kyiv, il est hors de question de capituler et de céder des territoires sans combat à Moscou, d’autant que les garanties de bonne foi de la Russie ont historiquement montré qu’elles n’étaient pas tenues. Dès lors, l’Ukraine a développé ses propres moyens pour que chaque km2 de territoire conquis coûte plus cher à Moscou, tout en essayant de toucher au maximum l’économie russe. Une contre-offensive hypothétique reste possible, mais il est encore tôt pour savoir si les Ukrainiens ont les moyens de la réaliser.Image
Read 10 tweets
Jun 14
For months, Ukraine 🇺🇦 has been conducting a series of deep infiltrations on the Velika Novosilka front.

Some of Russia’s 2025 gains have already been reversed, with the February counter-attack expanding to a 40-kilometer front.

🧵THREAD🧵1/12 ⬇️ Image
As a reminder, in February, the Ukrainian army conducted a discreet offensive for several weeks, clearing infiltrated areas, securing Pokrovsk'e and infiltrating areas that were previously under Russian control. Image
This counter-attack notably secured Ternuvat and prevented the use of Uspenivka to launch assaults on the Zaporizhzhia front.

This significantly slowed the Russian advance, reducing its length from 42 km to 25 km (west of Hulialpole). Image
Read 12 tweets
Jun 13
The Ukrainian 🇺🇦 blocus of Crimea is starting 🇷🇺

After they repeatedly hit bridges connecting Crimea and occupied Kherson oblast, the Ukrainians started implementing a blocus of the peninsula.

Last night, trucks and a pontoon bridge were hit.

🧵THREAD🧵1/15 ⬇️ Image
Last night, the Code 9.2, Phalanx and the davinci units launched multiple strikes against targets in and around the key roads leading to Crimea.
As you can see on the map, only few bridges are connecting Crimea to mainland Ukraine. 6 of them have been reportedly hit including the main ones :

🔸Henichesk bridge
🔸Chonhar road bridge
🔸Chonhar rail bridge
🔸Armyansk bridge (on canal)
🔸Stavky and Myrne bridges (?) on canal Image
Read 15 tweets
Jun 11
Last night, multiple Ukrainian 🇺🇦 units hit the bridges leading to Crimea, further isolating the peninsula from the land bridge to Russia 🇷🇺

At the same time, strike campaign continues on multiple key roads, with over 375 vehicles and trucks hit since early May.

🧵THREAD🧵1/13 ⬇️Image
Crimea is connected with southern occupied Ukraine by multiple key bridges.

The one in Chonhar was hit few days ago by multiple drones, which forced the russians to put up a pontoon bridge for their road traffic.
At least 3 bridges have been recently hit. The one in Henichesk, the ones in Armyansk and in Stavky.

As we can see on the video, these strikes are putting holes in the middle of those key bridges. Any consolidation attempt will probably be hit. Image
Image
Read 13 tweets
Jun 7
Ukraine 🇺🇦 continues its massive mid-range strike campaign against russian 🇷🇺 logistics.

Since early May, more than 290 russian trucks and vehicles have been hit. I have now mapped 210 strikes since january.

🧵THREAD🧵1/14 ⬇️ Image
The strike campaign is guided by multiple units, using a large veriety of drones.

The backbone of it are the FP-1/2 strikes on key logistics hubs, mainly oil/fuel depots, trains, gas stations, electric substations and rear bases.

Those strikes are often guided with AI. Image
The latest video recently published showcased some strikes around Melitopol (few missed) with Hornet drones.

Interestlingly, everything is not blurred, which helps understanding how they are using those drones.
Read 16 tweets
Jun 5
In southern Ukraine 🇺🇦, Russian 🇷🇺 forces continue their offensive from Hulialpole to Orikhiv, a strategic town

I mapped more than 1 400 Russian airstrikes, supporting multiple offensive axes in May, while Ukraine nearly finished its fortifications.

🧵THREAD🧵1/16 ⬇️ Image
In May 2026, Russia conducted 7 486 airstrikes, I managed to locate 52% of those.

18% of those strikes are targeting ukrainian positions near Hulialpole. We can add as well 6% of related airstrikes in Novopavlivka and Zaporizhzhia areas. Image
These airstrikes have a very surprising precision (much more than elsewhere on the front), primarily targeting treelines and villages, where soldiers and drone teams are hiding. Image
Read 16 tweets

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