Deepstate co-founder: Fortifications on the border of Sumy region could have been built last year

Fortifications could have been built on the border of Sumy region as early as 2024, but this work was not carried out. Roman Pohoriliy, co-founder of the OSINT project Deepstate, said this in a comment to LIGA.net.

The analyst said that after a trip to Sumy and Kursk regions in September 2024, the team decided to investigate the situation with fortifications in the border area in more detail: it turned out that such defensive structures are located deep inside Ukrainian territory.

Pohorily noted: the fighters who fought in this direction confirmed that fortifications near the border could be built.

He admitted that there was indeed shelling in this area, but emphasized that it was realistic to work in the border area.

"Even comparing with Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions, where we were [in June 2025], FPV drones are also constantly operating there. And while we were going there, FPV drones were flying above us somewhere in the area where electronic reconnaissance is available. [...] That is, we saw photos of arrivals in those places where the equipment is operating: the engineers took into account all these aspects, covered their equipment with anti-cumulative netting – and continue to work. Because they understand that such aspects of the work are important," the analyst said.

According to him, the situation in Sumy Oblast in 2024 is basically no different from the current state of affairs in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast: "It was possible to work there. [...] This is confirmed by the fighters themselves, who traveled every day from Yunakivka to Sudzha, from Sudzha to Yunakivka, that is, from Sumy Oblast to Kurshchyna, being under all these [Russian] drones."

Pohorily noted that it wasn't even about building trenches, dugouts, and strongpoints – from the most banal, one could dig an anti-tank ditch and install "dragon's teeth."

On the eve, Deepstate published information that "dragon's teeth" were left piled up in a pile on the outskirts of Yunakivka, which had been lying in this condition since about the beginning of winter, and now became "another gift for the katsaps, who can then equip themselves with engineering barriers." A similar situation with "dragon's teeth" occurred during the Russian offensive on the Kharkiv region in the spring of 2024.

In a conversation with LIGA.net, Pohoriliy added: even if it was difficult to build fortifications in the border area due to shelling, they could have been built at least along the Khotyn-Yunakivka line.

"But now, instead of restraining the enemy with engineering and fortification structures, we restrain them with people. And now many additional units have been deployed there, which, in principle, are trying to stabilize the situation. Somewhere they have already stabilized and, at least, stopped the enemy's activity. But this is on a part, not along the entire [front] line. There is still some activity [of the occupiers], in particular, in Yunakivka. Therefore, engineering and fortification structures are really important, and it was possible to do this [to build them]," the analyst noted.

• On June 14, President Zelensky confirmed that Ukrainian defenders had liberated Andriyivka in Sumy Oblast the day before and were managing to drive out Russian troops in the border area.
• On June 20, the State Border Guard Service reported that in the Sumy direction, the Russians were either regrouping or had reduced their activity amid significant losses.