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Russia Launches Railway from Rostov-on-Don to Occupied Mariupol

Russia Launches Railway from Rostov-on-Don to Occupied Mariupol
photo: Mariupol City Council / Telegram/Mariupol railway station destroyed by Russia, February 2023
06 / 08 / 2024

According to Mariupol mayor's advisor Petro Andriushchenko, despite a two-month winter delay due to strikes by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, there are clear signs that Russia has launched a railway connecting Russian Rostov-on-Don with occupied Ukrainian Mariupol.

"This is the conclusion we've come to after monitoring and recording movements along key stations since Wednesday," Andriushchenko reports on his Telegram channel. He notes that certain details, which cannot be disclosed for the safety of sources and insiders, indicate that the railway was launched without any public announcements. Due to improved Russian logistics, this development could significantly impact the front line and the course of the Russian war in Ukraine.

Key stations along the Mariupol Port–Volnovakha line have been monitored, revealing trains and locomotives in Russian Railways livery:

  • At Aslanovo station, four Russian Railways' diesel locomotives with freight cars attached. The freight cars were loaded and partially covered.
  • At Kalchik station, a single mainline diesel locomotive in Russian Railways livery.
  • At Sartana station, seven Russian Railways passenger cars, displaying Yekaterinburg as their destination.

Russia spent approximately 13 months restoring the railway. Construction was delayed by two months due to strikes by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in winter and by one month more due to sabotage at the Kalchik quarry organized by the Mariupol Resistance movement.

Source: Andriushchenko Time; UKRINFORM

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