Swamps, bogs, and peatlands have been highly efficient natural barriers to military advances throughout history. During the First World War, Austrian troops were bogged down in the peatlands of Ukraine’s north, and then swamps limited the mobility of German soldiers in 1941, preventing them from using Blitzkrieg tactics in the assault on Leningrad.
A tragedy in April, in which four US soldiers were killed when an armored vehicle sank in a peat bog during a NATO training exercise in Lithuania, demonstrated that understanding wetlands is crucial for military planning.
Nature has also played a significant role since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The breaching of a dam on the Irpin River by the Ukrainian army in March 2022 was a crucial element in the defense of Kyiv. Overnight, the whole area turned into an impassable muddy trap for Russian units, and since then, both Russian and Ukrainian forces have blown up dams to stop their opponent’s advances.
Data from a Belarusian book on military technology published in 2018 suggests wet peatlands can support far less weight than drained bogs. The land’s load-bearing capacity drops by 75% from 1.0 kg/cm2 in drained bogs to 0.25 kg/cm2 in wet peatland, making wetlands an ideal tool for thwarting attacks by heavy armor.
Belarus, as well as conducting extensive research on the military implications of wetlands, has built more than 100 km of roads and a defensive line in the largest undrained swamp in Europe, which lies on its border with Ukraine. Belarusian military roads lead to the border and are “coordinated” with the road network in Ukraine, posing a military threat that demands a response.
Polisia, the area of northern Ukraine near the border with Belarus, was once rich in swamps and peatlands, but most were drained by Soviet authorities after World War II. Kyiv is now being urged to restore the drained wetlands and use them as a natural barrier against attack.
Aeco, a German company focused on restoring peatlands, has called for the strategic rewetting of bogs and swamps not only in Ukraine, but also in the border areas of the Baltic states, Poland, Finland, and Germany.
“Naturally wet and equally rewetted peatlands are impassable for tanks, slowing down troop movements and forcing them into more predictable corridors that are easier to defend,” Aeco said in a report published in April. The terrain of Russia`s neighbors in Europe is rich with wetlands near the eastern and northern borders, which could be used to separate Europe from Russia and Belarus, it said.
Poland announced a first step last year as part of its 2.4bn euro ($2.8bn) East Shield program. Warsaw is building a new defensive line through the Białowieża Forest, near the Belarusian border, using swamps to create an impenetrable defense.
It intends to equip the area with anti-tank defenses, electronic and aerial surveillance, and military bases, but the wetlands will form a crucial part of the line. The project is “all about taking advantage of natural terrain,” retired General Stanisław Koziej told Politico.
While there are undoubted environmental benefits to restoring wetlands, which are sinks for CO2 and teeming with life, ecologists have warned that haphazard use of the primaeval forest may endanger its unique biodiversity and want to work with government to protect it.
Restored wetlands can also significantly enhance water quality, they say, with swamps acting as “filters” through which water is supplied to cities and villages, bringing long-term positive sustainable development as well as enhanced security.
Successful delivery of such benefits will need cooperation between ecologists, the military, and local communities to find the middle ground between security goals and protection of nature, said Erik Zhivkoplias, a pre-doctoral researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Centre.
He pinpoints the importance of local communities in the projects. People have settled in the drained swamps, and their opinions and local knowledge should be considered when developing restoration strategies, he said.
Military strategists should follow the example of a Swedish coastal adaptation project in which the government communicated with local communities from the start and crystallized the final plan together, Zhivkoplias said.
Restoring wetlands can take several years, so the earlier work is started, the better. Recovering biodiversity will bring ecological benefits while serving as a bulwark against potential attack from the east.
European and Ukrainian governments will need to work to connect military strategists with ecologists and local people to develop comprehensive plans to protect their borders and ecology.
Mykyta (Nikita) Vorobiov is a political analyst and a Master`s student at the University of Oxford. He holds a BA in Ethics and Politics from Bard College Berlin, where he conducted extensive research on Russian visual propaganda. For the last three years, Mykyta has been developing articles on politics and law for CEPA, VoxEurop, JURIST, and others.
Europe’s Edge is CEPA’s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America. All opinions expressed on Europe’s Edge are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.
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