This is the best summary I could come up with:

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Armies rarely measure their success by the roads they’ve paved or the rail lines they’ve laid down — but that may be the metric Russia is using in occupied portions of Ukraine, where major infrastructure projects are underway or are being planned.

Over the last few months, Moscow-based media have reported on the construction of a new railway line between Rostov-on-Don in Russia, near the Sea of Azov and the border with Ukraine, and Yakymivka, about 10 kilometres north of the Crimean peninsula.

The Russian and Ukrainian armies may be locked in a death struggle with little movement of the frontlines, but the bricks and mortar work behind those lines (and the economic consolidation that comes with it) is becoming increasingly important, said one expert.

Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada Yuliya Kovaliv has for months been making the same argument to political and business audiences — most recently when she defended the modernization of the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement.

“This stability and security will serve as a catalyst for increased investment and economic co-operation, which will create jobs in both countries,” Kovaliv told the House of Commons standing committee on international trade.

Speaking before the House of Commons defence committee in December, Rand Corporation expert Howard Shatz said the West is a unique position to give Ukraine a leg-up in terms of investment.

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