Ukraine’s secret “weapon” in the war with Russia

Ukraine owns a railway network with a total length of more than 21,000km. Railways is one of the largest employers in the country with more than 260,000 employees.

Currently, trains are not merely for industrial purposes, but are also used for humanitarian aid and for transporting military weapons. This is also the means of transport that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and a number of other Western officials choose during the trip. visit to Kiev by train last April 26.

According to some experts, Russia was not able to make full use of its railways at the early stages of the conflict because it was directly related to a number of logistical problems, causing many of the country’s trucks to fall. stranded in the town of Trostsyanets late last month.

Emily Ferris, Russia expert at the Royal Institute for Defense and Security Studies, a UK-based defense think tank, said: “So far, railways have always played a vital role. critical period in this conflict”.

Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, executive director of passenger train business of Ukrainian Railways, said the missile hit five train stations and several others, located mainly in the western and central regions of the country. on the night of April 25, killing one employee and injuring four others.

At a press conference on the same day, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the attacks on the train station were aimed at preventing the transportation of “foreign weapons and military equipment” to the Ukrainian army in the eastern region. bronze Donbass.

Up to the present time, the railway system in the territory of Ukraine is always repaired in time when there is a problem. Mr. Pertsovskyi added that, in certain cases, the repair process even takes only a few hours.

When the railway bridges were pull down nice severely damaged It will be difficult to solve, but according to him “the bottom line is that although the attacks are continuous and tend to increase, we can still operate the railway as usual”.

In fact, the possibility of completely destroying the railway system in Ukraine is considered “impossible because it is a very solid system”, Petrovskii added.