fortification

The allegation is that Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and other key ministers and officials received payments from contractors building fortifications against Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.

“Hamas’s internal fortifications, they remain as they were,” he said.

These new fortifications carved in the Ukrainian dirt chart a deteriorating situation here in Donetsk.

But Ukraine is estimated to have held onto about 30% of Donetsk, including several key cities and fortifications, at a cost of tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives.

"If we withdraw from the Donbas today - our fortifications, our terrain, the heights we control - we will clearly open a bridgehead for the Russians to prepare an offensive," he said.