Currently, Russia is just replenishing frontline losses rather than building up combat strength in several sectors, while heavy armor stays well behind the contact line, the spokesman for Ukraine's Joint Forces said on 13 April, as Russia's Easter ceasefire continued to collapse under the weight of its own violations.
Personnel replaced, not built up
Spokesman Viktor Trehubov told Ukrainian television that Russian forces on the directions his grouping covers are not massing for a new push.
"Personnel is being replenished more than accumulated," Trehubov said — meaning Russia is replacing the losses from recent assault activity and restoring units to pre-offensive headcount, not concentrating fresh force.
Tanks park 20 km back
Heavy equipment usage is limited across the front, Trehubov said — and the reason is structural.
"Such is the nature of modern warfare: through the large 20 km kill zone, equipment usually doesn't get through — specifically tanks and IFVs," he noted. Motorcycles and quad bikes do cross the zone — but, as Trehubov put it, calling them military hardware is a stretch.
The figure aligns with a pattern documented across the front. In February 2026, Ukraine's former Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi described the frontline as a "robotic kill zone" expanding throughout the war. Ukraine's Drone Line, funded at $880 million and operational since March 2025, killed approximately 30,000 Russian soldiers in a single winter by creating continuous drone coverage along assault corridors. Russian tanks and IFVs have adapted with successive generations of anti-drone caging and armor, but crews have learned that getting detected in the kill zone generally means getting destroyed — which is why many vehicles now wait in underground shelters until assault orders arrive.
