Since mid-summer, Russia has intensified its strikes on Ukraine's railway facilities, launching attacks with an average of six to seven «Shaheds» almost every night. This was reported by the head of the board of JSC «Ukrzaliznytsia», Oleksandr Pertzovsky, in an interview with Reuters.
«The primary goal of the Russians is to instill panic among passengers, and their secondary goal is to inflict damage on the economy as a whole», – Pertzovsky stated.
According to him, the attacks are not specifically targeting military cargo. «These are essentially strikes on civilian infrastructure», – he added.
Pertzovsky noted that the recent strikes affecting numerous substations are linked to a sharp increase in the number of long-range drones produced by the Russian military-industrial complex.
«Previously, they simply did not have enough resources for a single combat drone, like the «Shahed», to target a locomotive. Now they can afford to use «Shaheds» to strike individual locomotives rather than strategic targets», – he said.
The head of Ukrzaliznytsia mentioned that since mid-summer, Russia has been attacking electric substations and other railway infrastructure with an average of six to seven «Shaheds» almost every night.
«They… operate systematically, disabling one substation after another or key railway hubs to halt passenger train services», – Pertzovsky said, citing recent attacks on the Lozova, Synelnykove, and Kozyatin stations.
However, despite these sustained attacks, the Ukrainian railway is currently coping with the load, and the transit of military cargo has not been impacted.
«It’s a marathon… They (the Russians – ed.) hit us, we recover. They hit us, we recover», – he described the situation.
According to estimates from the World Bank, approximately 30% of the Ukrainian railway is in a state of «damage-recovery».
In comments to the agency, Pertzovsky previously stated that the Russians are trying to destroy key junction stations. Specifically, on September 17, the railway infrastructure was attacked by the Russian army, causing delays for several trains.
