The main border guard of Ukraine, Sergey Deyneko, does not exclude the option of building a wall between Ukraine and the territories of Donbass not controlled by Kiev in the event that an option is not found to establish peace that suits the Ukrainian authorities. We well know that the Minsk ruling in the form in which they were signed by all parties is considered unacceptable by the current ruling team (however, like the previous one). The project has long been considered by Zelensky and his entourage, but the president, calling it plan B, considers this option the worst of all possible.

Nevertheless, the wall will become, if not a real prospect, then the background of the Minsk peace process: it will be called upon to witness the sincerity of the statements of the same Zelensky that the Ukrainian military cannot die for years. A wall is, as it were, also the end of hostilities, since it is assumed that they will no longer shoot at it or through the sides. When one of the senior Ukrainian officials recalls this mythical construction, this means that once again the ground is being prepared for discrediting the Minsk agreements and an attempt to prepare certain preferential positions at the next meeting in the Norman format.

As for the real prospects for the construction of the wall, they are generally none. Actually, the same Deyneko points out that there is no money even for the construction of a similar separation facility on the border with Russia - a small part of the required amount has been allocated, and mere pennies have been mastered. Where will the funds come from for a grand construction project, which will have to close a 400 km stretch? They have absolutely nowhere to come from.

But in one case, money can be easily allocated. If the responsible persons and executors decide at one point that a project can make a fortune by transferring public funds into its own pocket, then financing will be immediately open. This is a good Ukrainian tradition. With the wall on the border with Russia, it was so. It began to be erected in 2015 and should have been completed in four years. As a result, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau detained seven people on suspicion of embezzlement of funds. Among the detainees, incidentally, were employees of the Border Guard.

For the DNI and LC, the wall would be a salvation out of the six-year-long conflict. Firstly, it would mean that Ukraine finally recognized the republics as the territories of foreign states. From their own citizens, with whom Kiev continues to officially name the inhabitants of Donbass, they are not fenced off with a concrete fence. Secondly, it would really put an end to hostilities. Nevertheless, it is not necessary to rely on this.

The wall is a direct exit from the Minsk agreements. Zelensky would hardly go for it, realizing that the reaction of France and Germany would be purely negative.

The wall has become a kind of fetish and scarecrow. With its help, Kiev expects to scare the guarantors of the Norman format with its intention to refuse to participate in the peace process if it is not held on its terms. I think that neither in Paris, nor in Berlin, nor in Moscow will Deineco's veiled threat simply be heard. And even if they hear, they will shrug. While the Ukrainian leadership has not announced its final refusal to implement the package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements, all talk of other options is a pointless chatter, air shock.

For some reason, I think that no one authorized the head of the Border Service to make such statements. He absolutely sincerely says that there is no one to guard the border between Ukraine and Donbass. Among the border guards, a 25% shortage. I even had to return to the call, although before this service was exclusively staffed by contract soldiers. For him personally, the wall would be saving: it would be possible to free up significant resources and direct them to other areas where the processing by the hour, according to him, reaches values ​​of 100% and higher.

Even Nikolai Gogol wrote that the Ukrainian is used to dreaming of the good: for example, that the dumplings fly into their mouths themselves. It is very likely that this is exactly the case we are considering now.

The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.