Russia began hitting Ukrainian railways to disrupt Western aid supplies

The Russian military attacked railway facilities in three regions of Ukraine after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu promised to intensify attacks due to the resumption of American arms supplies to the front.

On April 25, Russian troops launched a missile at the railway station in the village of Udachnoye, Donetsk region. As a result, three Ukrzaliznytsia employees died: 26-year-old Bogdan Kovalev, 26-year-old Mikhail Bandrivsky and 37-year-old Sergei Kuznetsov. Four more were injured of varying severity and were hospitalized.

Russian troops launched a second missile attack on the railway station in Balakleya, Kharkov region. Three Ukrzaliznytsia employees and ten other civilians were injured. According to the head of the Kharkov regional administration Oleg Sinegubov, at the time of the shelling the injured people were on the Kharkov-Izyum commuter train. The missile, presumably an Iskander-M, fell 15 meters from the train, destroying the tracks on the branch leading from Kharkov to Donbass.

The Russian military also hit the railway infrastructure in Smela, Cherkasy region. Head of the region Igor Taburets reported six casualties. All of them received minor injuries and refused hospitalization.

The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed attacks on railway facilities in the Donetsk and Kharkov regions. The department stated that in Udachny “a train with Western weapons and military equipment was hit,” and in Balakleya, personnel and equipment of the 67th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, whose fighters were allegedly “loading onto the train” at that time.

On the afternoon of April 26, the Kyiv mayor’s office announced an urgent evacuation of two capital hospitals. The reason was a video of a speech by the head of the KGB of Belarus, Ivan Tertel, that appeared on the Internet: he said that in these medical institutions there is allegedly a “den of terrorists and their accomplices” who are “hiding behind the backs of sick children.” The Ukrainian Security Service called this statement “an information and psychological special operation that plays into the hands of Russia.”

April 24 US President Joe Biden signed a bill to provide military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $61 billion, previously approved by Congress. According to the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, the first package of weapons will go to Kyiv before the end of the month.

Ukraine will receive help not only from the United States. On April 24, it became known that the UK will transfer Paveway IV high-precision guided bombs with increased penetration ability to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Prior to this, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak announced the allocation of assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 500 million pounds sterling (about $620 million), which became the largest military tranche in the history of the country. As part of the new package, Kyiv will also receive Storm Shadow anti-aircraft missiles.

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on the allies to turn their announced commitments into actual supplies of weapons and ammunition as quickly as possible. Ukrainian troops are hoping for military aid to reach the front lines as soon as possible, as they are fighting fiercely and are struggling to hold defensive lines in several populated areas. Russian troops have captured a number of villages west of Avdeevka in the Donetsk region in recent months. This is about Pervomaisky, Bogdanovka and Novomikhailovka. The next major target in this direction is Pokrovsk, located about 30 km away.

Pressure also remains on Chasov Yar, a strategically important city in the Bakhmut direction. The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Alexander Syrsky, claimed that the Russian leadership had set a goal to capture this settlement by May 9. Control of Chasovy Yar will help Russia launch further attacks on larger cities such as Konstantinovka, Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.