Russia attacks Ukraine’s rail lines, source says

KYIV, Ukraine – Russia is targeting Ukrainian rail lines with airstrikes to disrupt the delivery of desperately needed U.S. weapons to the front and complicate military logistics, a Kyiv intelligence source said on Friday.

The United States approved a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine this week and said the first deliveries should arrive in a matter of days, easing acute shortages of artillery shells that have hamstrung Kyiv’s forces for months.

As the aid was finalized after six months of congressional wrangling, Russia’s defense minister said on Tuesday that Moscow would increase attacks on logistics centers and storage sites holding Western weapons.

On Thursday, Ukrainian rail infrastructure was targeted by Russian strikes in the eastern Donetsk region, northeastern Kharkiv region and central Cherkasy region, the national rail company said.

The attack in Donetsk, which is the main focus of Russia’s offensive in the east, killed three electrical mechanics working for the railway company and wounded four more, it said.

Ukrainian officials seldom provide detailed statements about strikes on sensitive military targets, but the Ukrainian intelligence source confirmed to Reuters there had been attacks on rail infrastructure aimed at disrupting the supply of weapons. “Also, the overall complication of our logistics,” the source added.

Outnumbering and outgunning Kyiv’s forces many times over, Russian troops have had the battlefield momentum since February when they captured the longtime bastion town of Avdiivka.