MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. Multi-layered defenses consisting of anti-tank installations and minefields have been prepared in the Zaporozhye Region to repel the Ukrainian military’s counter-offensive, Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the We Are Together with Russia public movement, said in a live broadcast on the Soloviev Live TV Channel on Friday.

"We have prepared several deeply-layered [defense] lines, beginning with the banal ‘dragon’s teeth’ as they are called by people, cone-shaped structures intended to halt the advance of tanks when these tanks are bombarded by our artillery, the Aerospace Forces, multiple launch rocket systems and so on. The same refers to minefields," the regional official said, replying to a question from the news presenter about the preparedness of the Zaporozhye defensive line for Kiev’s planned counter-offensive.

"Our guys are ready, they know the frontline, the Zaporozhye direction and understand well what to do," he stressed.

The talks about the Zaporozhye direction as a weak link may stem from the local terrain features: "plains and continuous steppe and nowhere to find a natural barrier," the regional official said.

"There would exist certain possibilities for the quick advance of armor or an armored force, if the defensive line were not normal, were not organized properly," he stressed, adding that "this will certainly not be an easy ride for the enemy."

The regional official told TASS on April 4 that the Ukrainian army might launch active operations in the coming days through reconnaissance by fire or the attempts to advance along the engagement line in the Zaporozhye Region, in the area of the city of Orekhov where personnel and military hardware kept arriving. In his estimate, in case of an offensive, Ukrainian troops would try to avoid urban battles due to a shortage of personnel and would attempt to break through to the Sea of Azov east of Mariupol to cut off the land corridor to Crimea.

The regional official told TASS on March 27 that the Ukrainian military had amassed about 75,000 troops in the Zaporozhye area already after its March 23 failed offensive foiled by Russian forces who destroyed some 400 militants.