Ukrainian border guards are digging a 400-kilometer anti-tank ditch on Ukraine's border with Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region.
A trench dug out earlier would become part of the new ditch, which would be 2 meters deep and between 3.5 and 3.75 meters wide, State Border Guard Service spokesman Oleksander Yakovenko said.
It is unclear when the work will be finished, according to Yakovenko. Only one excavator is being used, and it depends on its state of repair and the regularity of fuel supplies for it how long the task will take to accomplish, the spokesman said.
The project is financed with personal money provided by Odessa governor Ihor Palytsia, who has so far bought 20 tonnes of fuel, with money from the State Border Guard’s financial reserves and with volunteer donations.
According to Ukrainian newspaper Segodnya, the excavator uses 840 liters of fuel per day and digs out between 2.5 and 3 kilometers of ditch per week, which means the work will finish by June 2016 if it carries on at the same rate. By then the excavator will have spent 588 tonnes of fuel worth Hr 8.23 million in terms of today’s prices.
