MELITOPOL, March 10. /TASS/. The supply of weapons and ammunition to the Ukrainian military depends primarily on the condition of the railway infrastructure, so disabling it is a priority, the leader of the movement "We Are Together With Russia," Vladimir Rogov, told TASS on Friday.
The Russian Defense Ministry told the media on Thursday that the Russian Armed Forces inflicted a "massive retaliation strike" on facilities in Ukraine in response to the terrorist attack in the Bryansk Region. "The redeployment of reserves and rail transportation of foreign weapons were disrupted," the Defense Ministry said.
Rogov said that in the city of Zaporozhye strikes had been carried out on the railway’s power supply facilities over the past 2-3 days.
"The Ukrainian railways have begun to use diesel locomotives instead of electric locomotives to transport military personnel, ammunition and military equipment. Indirect evidence of this is seen in train delays and partial reduction of civilian traffic," he said.
Rogov said that Ukraine had a fairly large fleet of diesel locomotives, which would partially substitute for electric locomotives.
"They will definitely try to compensate for these losses. Whether they will be able to do so will become clear in the near future. In my opinion, the next stage should entail the destruction of the railway tracks themselves. While the rails can be replaced quickly enough, a railway junction or key traffic artery that has been destroyed will take some time to get up and running again," Rogov said.
"The railways are crucial for the Zelensky regime’s ability to redeploy forces."
"If the trains stop running, there will be zero options for delivering certain cargoes by ordinary roads. One would like to believe that the Russian forces’ strikes will bring about a critical shortage of ammunition and manpower for the Ukrainian army," Rogov said.