A series of Russian strikes targeting trains and railway infrastructure have raised fears the Kremlin is probing Ukraine's response to supply disruptions amid Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine.
Russia’s New Target: Ukrainian Trains
Locomotives in Poltava, central Ukraine, pictured on October 7 after an overnight Russian strike on a railway depot.
The Russian attack is the latest in a series targeting Ukraine’s railway infrastructure.
A train fitted with anti-drone netting burns after being struck by drones at the station in Shostka, northeastern Ukraine, on October 4.
Several people including children were reported injured in the strikes and one person was killed. The second of two drones reportedly struck while rescuers were responding to the first attack.
The scene at Shostka on October 4.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on October 7 that the Kremlin is seeking to “paralyze the work of Ukrainian Railways, which remains a critical artery of the country.”
A railway worker next to a destroyed train at a depot in Odesa, southern Ukraine, on October 2 after it was hit by an overnight strike.
Attacks on Ukraine’s rail infrastructure come amid a massive Ukrainian drone campaign targeting Russia’s fuel production facilities.
The interior of a high speed passenger train in Kyiv after it was hit with a Shahed drone overnight on August 27-28.
With Ukraine’s airspace closed to passenger flights and many roads in eastern Ukraine in poor condition, trains are in some cases the only feasible way for locals, and military equipment, to be transported over long distances.
A carriage on the damaged train station of Lozova, eastern Ukraine, photographed on August 5 after a massive Russian attack on the railway hub.
Analysts have speculated the recent targeting of Ukraine’s rail infrastructure in eastern Ukraine may be a way to probe the railways’ responsiveness to disruption to see how long supply lines could be tied up in the event of a major Russian ground assault.
A destroyed railway station in the frontline town of Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine, photographed on July 30.
On October 5, Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko called for increased air defences to be provided to Ukraine in response to the attacks on its railways, a tactic she called a "doctrine of cruelty."