Ukrainian troops are crowdfunding for the construction vehicles desperately needed for new defenses

• The Ukrainian military is crowdfunding to buy equipment to defend itself against Russia.
• The equipment will be used to build fortifications and aid in evacuations.
• Experts have said that digging in with strong defenses is critical to staying in the fight.

A front-line Ukrainian military unit is turning to crowdfunding for the construction tools to build defenses to blunt Russian advances and shield Ukraine's soldiers.

"We need your help to purchase an excavator to build fortifications," a Ukrainian soldier with the 26th Artillery Brigade said in a fundraising message posted on X by Ukrainian combat veteran Constantine Kalinovskiy on Monday. "You can help save not one but many lives of our service members and bring us one step closer to victory," the message said.

The fundraiser, which was started by the Liberty Ukraine Foundation, calls for $72,000 in donations for the purchase of a backhoe excavator to help build shelters and trenches. The donations would also go toward a vehicle that would be used for evacuations and utilities.

"The excavator is a very important tool to protect very expensive equipment an the lives of the soldiers," Kalinovskiy, an LUF fundraiser, wrote. "It's used to dig deep into the ground and save from incoming missiles and artillery."

He added that donations for this expensive equipment would help defenders stand their ground as the "war enters a new phase."

One excavator, Kalinovskiy shared, has already been delivered to the 59th Brigade, "and it's already digging the trenches and saving Ukrainian lives on the Avdiivka axis."

Ukraine doesn't have the war materiel, ammo in particular, for offensive operations, but experts have said that maintaining a strong defense could put Ukraine on track to achieve a victory.

"We cannot enable Ukraine to take back all its territory, but we can enable Ukraine to deny Putin further gains," Henry L. Stimson Center senior fellow Emma Ashford said during a Defense Priorities panel in February.

Ashford has advocated for increasing static fortifications and digging in, among other defensive tactics, as Ukraine enters its third year of war against Russia.

Rob Lee, an expert who has followed the war closely as well, wrote on X that "building better fortifications, including for artillery, is one of the most effective ways Ukrainian units can partially compensate for a lack of ammunition."

The fundraiser for the 26th Artillery Brigade exceeded its goal, reaching $72,765 as of Tuesday morning, but the larger Ukrainian military is still waiting anxiously for further assistance, specifically an aid package for Ukraine that has been hung up in Congress by American politics since October.