MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. Ukrainian forces began building the second line of anti-tank trenches in the Rovno Region within the reinforcement of fortifications on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, head of the regional administration Vitaly Koval said Friday.

"Work is in full swing on the Belarusian border. We build fortifications and engineering structures every day. We dig the second line of anti-tank trenches and build barriers, using special concrete structures - the tetrahedrons," he said on his Telegram channel.

On February 25, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine expanded the border strip at the Russian and Belarusian border to two kilometers deep. Under the current legislation, it is prohibited to "stay, live, move, enter without permission or carry out any works, directly related to defense or protection of the border itself" inside the exclusion strip. The State Border Service of Ukraine stated that this territory will effectively be rigged with landmines.

The Ukrainian-Belarusian border is 1,084 kilometers long. According to the State Border Committee of Belarus, Ukraine has concentrated a group of 17,200 servicemen near the Belarusian border at the beginning of this year. Kiev continues construction of engineering barriers, including minefields, and continues detonating bridges, the Committee said, adding that Ukraine regularly carries out provocations at the border, including with use of weapons. A total of 88 such incidents were registered in 2022.