Witness warns losing Ukraine's "fortress belt" would hand Russia strategic depth

A witness told the panel that Ukraine's network of fortified cities, described as a "fortress belt," gives Ukrainian forces operational depth and survivability that goes beyond tactical positions. "Their core comes from their survivability as large urban areas," the witness said.

He said the cities allow forces to hide command posts, reserves, drone control sites, munition stockpiles, maintenance bays and medical facilities, and to rotate combat power and give troops rest. The witness relayed a staff estimate that in one core area Ukrainian forces "did between 600 and 700 drones a day and shoot down 300 of them," and said the fortress-belt cities help absorb that onslaught.

The witness cautioned that if Ukraine lost the fortress belt it would lose the operational depth that currently allows those functions. He said Ukraine established "a fallback position 100 km to the west in the fortress belt," but also acknowledged the terrain itself is not inherently defendable and no single conurbation guarantees survivability.

Arguing about the strategic consequences, the witness said that if Russia gained the fortress belt it "would accrue the operational advantages that Ukraine currently enjoys," enabling Russia to push forward command posts, drone launch sites and sustainment to press further into Ukraine.

He invoked a historical analogy and a broader warning about Russian intentions: "Just as with the Sudetenland, relinquishing the fortress belt to Putin will help him subjugate the rest of Ukraine." The witness added that, in Putin's own writings, Russia's president described Ukraine as a "fake state," and the witness said Putin "already violated the Minsk II agreement signed back in 2015" and would likely violate future agreements if he saw an opportunity.

The witness closed by saying, "Peace will only come and be maintained through strength."