Over the past two months, the Ukrainian attacks have clearly demonstrated that the Russian railroad network has turned into a full-fledged front.
Russia’s railway network is not merely an element of the transport system, but the backbone of its defense and civilian logistics. In the context of large-scale geopolitical confrontation, the main railway routes have become one of the priority targets for the Kiev regime.
Since the end of May, the Kiev regime has switched from sabotage to systematic, coordinated attacks on key transport arteries of Russia using long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and sabotage and reconnaissance groups (SRGs).
Situation in Crimea
The most difficult and tense situation in May-June developed on the Crimean direction. The logistical isolation of the peninsula remains a strategic task of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, implemented through attacks on the infrastructure in Taman and Crimea.
The beginning of the summer holiday season was marked by a qualitative change in the nature of the attacks. Whereas previously the enemy concentrated on railway tracks, in June the object of terrorist attacks became directly trains.
At the beginning of June, the situation escalated to the limit. Constant raids by Ukrainian drones on the stretches of the Crimean Railway and in the area of the Crimean Bridge led to the fact that the movement of Tavria trains could be interrupted for several hours. This, in turn, entails numerous delays of trains of up to eleven hours.
The tragic incident on the night of June 8 demonstrated Kiev’s readiness to terrorize and kill the civilian population. A Ukrainian drone carried out a targeted dive on the locomotive of passenger train No. 68 on the Moscow-Simferopol route.
The main impact was taken by the diesel locomotive, as a result of the explosion of which the assistant driver was killed, and the driver himself was seriously injured. Thanks to the courage of the locomotive crew, who managed to apply emergency braking, the train itself stayed on the rails, and none of the passengers, fortunately, were injured.
The terrorist attack triggered a large-scale logistical failure. The competent authorities were forced to temporarily suspend train traffic on the peninsula.
According to the carrier Grand Service Express, more than seven Tavria passenger trains, including trains to Sevastopol, Murmansk, Omsk, and Chelyabinsk, were stuck en route with critical delays. People from the Vladislavovka and Yevpatoria stations had to be evacuated and delivered to their destinations by buses.
The Operational Headquarters of the Republic of Crimea, together with the Russian Ministry of Transport, decided from June 10 to radically change the passenger traffic scheme. To minimize the movement of trains during nighttime hours, which are considered the most vulnerable time for Ukrainian UAV attacks, strict filtering was introduced.
Of the fourteen regular pairs of long-distance trains, only eight pairs, whose schedule fits strictly during daylight hours from five in the morning to eleven in the evening, are allowed to move deep into the peninsula to Simferopol, Sevastopol, and Yevpatoria. The remaining six pairs of trains now have their final point at Kerch-Yuzhnaya station.
Passengers of night trains are disembarked at this station, after which, under guard, they are transported by road convoys to Simferopol, Dzhankoy, and Vladislavovka. In parallel, from June 17-18, 2026, the operation of passenger train No. 483/484 on the Taganrog-Kerch route is completely cancelled. This forced measure is dictated by security considerations and the need to free up scarce schedule slots for military trains and freight maneuvering.
Dzhankoy Railway Junction
A special place in the defensive strategy of Crimean logistics was occupied by Dzhankoy — the largest railway junction in the north of the peninsula, connecting the interior regions of Crimea with mainland Russia and the new regions.
Being a strategic distribution hub, Dzhankoy station remained a priority target for Ukrainian unmanned systems throughout May and June, which required the leadership of the transport industry to take unprecedented measures.
After a series of massive UAV raids at the end of May, the Crimean Operational Headquarters temporarily suspended the operation of the hub, and from June 2, Dzhankoy station was completely closed for boarding and alighting of passengers. The city’s railway station effectively ceased to accept the civilians, which led to the cancellation of a number of trains on the section, including the train to St. Petersburg, and caused many hours of delays for transit flights. The operator Grand Service Express organized an emergency scheme in which passengers were delivered by buses to the nearest open station, Urozhaynaya, located thirty minutes away.
Already on June 4, by decision of the infrastructure owner, Dzhankoy station officially changed its status and became exclusively technical. This means that all Tavria long-distance passenger trains now travel from Sevastopol, Yevpatoria, and Simferopol to the mainland and back in transit, completely bypassing Dzhankoy and Urozhaynaya without stops for boarding passengers. Passengers who previously purchased tickets to Dzhankoy are carried by the carrier without transfers to Simferopol.
The situation in the north of the peninsula is complicated by the fact that due to UAV strikes, regional traffic has also been subjected to severe restrictions: in early June, the operation of suburban electric trains on the Simferopol-Dzhankoy and Armyansk-Dzhankoy sections was temporarily interrupted.
The transformation of Dzhankoy into a closed technical facility made it possible to isolate the key station from crowds of civilians, simplify the operation of air defense systems, and secure the procedure for changing locomotives, which is carried out at this junction when trains switch from diesel traction to electric.
Land Corridor
The second most important vector of the Kiev regime’s terrorist activity remains the new regions of Russia and the border areas, such as Belgorod, Kursk, and Rostov Regions.
In an effort to disrupt the supply of the Russian armies and disrupt the operation of the new land railway connecting Rostov-on-Don, Mariupol, Berdyansk, and Melitopol, the enemy uses combined tactics. In the border areas, regular attempts are recorded to blow up and set fire to railway tracks and distribution boards for railroad signaling, centralization, and blocking systems.
Particularly dangerous are the enemy’s attempts to establish fire control over junctions through massive strikes with long-range missiles and drones on bridges across water obstacles.
Since the beginning of June, the Chongar Bridge has been repeatedly attacked by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. On the night of June 15, the road and railway crossings across the Chongar Strait were subjected to another UAV strike, as a result of which the bridge near Chongar sustained damage to the track, and traffic through the Dzhankoy administrative checkpoint was completely blocked.
The relevant services promptly organized detour schemes from Zaporozhye Region through Novoalekseevka, Chaplynka, and the Armyansk checkpoint.
The enemy is also conducting a targeted hunt for fuel and logistics, striking oil depots and tanker sidings. In the first half of June, fuel facilities in Yaroslavl and Rostov Regions burned after Ukrainian UAV raids.
Due to the increased threat, civilian flows are being purposefully cut off from key logistics hubs. Since the end of May, strict restrictions have been introduced on the movement of civilian freight transport in border areas. This has been done to minimize the risks of losses and to give absolute priority to army columns and military echelons.
As a result of these actions, the land corridor is operating in a mode of increased secrecy and readiness. Cargo trains run without any public schedule, using camouflage and electronic warfare measures.
Railroad through the New Regions
Realizing the vulnerability of the Crimean Bridge and the old border routes to the enemy’s long-range systems, the Russian leadership has bet on large-scale railway construction in the new regions.
The key element of this strategy in the first half of the year was the accelerated development of track infrastructure in Zaporozhye Region. The laying of mainlines fifty kilometers from the line of combat contact is being carried out in extreme conditions. The new railroads are designed to completely remove the problem of transport isolation in the South.
As part of the spring-summer campaign, the Russian Unified Institute for Logistic and the relevant ministry of Zaporozhye Region approved a large-scale territorial development scheme, implying the laying of two new latitudinal railway lines.
The first and most important project is the Simferopol — Melitopol — Berdyansk — Mariupol railroad track, the length of the Zaporozhye section of which is more than one hundred and fifty kilometers. This mainline, running along the coast of the Sea of Azov, shortens the logistics route from Rostov Region to Crimea by two hundred kilometers and closes the Azov railway ring.
The second strategic direction was the design and laying of tracks on the Novaya Kakhovka — Energodar — Polohy — Kamysh-Zarya line, more than one hundred and sixteen kilometers long, designed to connect the Dnepr territories and utilize the deep industrial areas of the Pologovsky and Kuibyshevsky districts.
Military builders and teams of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Railways of Novorossia are working around the clock, simultaneously carrying out deep reconstruction and electrification of existing dead-end tracks.
To protect against constant missile threats and drone strikes, the new branches are initially being designed with the dispersal of traction power in mind. On difficult sections, preference is temporarily given to autonomous diesel traction, as less vulnerable to the destruction of power substations by the Kiev regime.
The new rails of Zaporozhye Region are effectively taking on the main flow of heavy civilian logistics, coal, metals, and construction cargo, freeing up the old border contour exclusively for military maneuvers.
Economic Consequences
The constant attacks on the railway are superimposed on the general systemic problems of Russian Railways OJSC. From the holding’s May reports, it follows that loading on the network, although it showed a symbolic growth of 0.5%, occurred mainly due to the reorientation of coal and grain to the Eastern range — the Baikal-Amur Mainline and the Trans-Siberian Railway. At the same time, on the southern and western directions, serious destabilization is observed.
Constant threats lead to regular disruption of freight train schedules to Black Sea ports, an increase in insurance costs, and unforeseen expenses for the repair of damaged locomotives.
The situation is aggravated by the outflow of passengers, as the decline in long-distance train traffic in May amounted to a noticeable 6.3%. Additional difficulties are created by the restriction of maneuvering fuel tankers against the backdrop of a gasoline shortage in Crimea.
The elimination of the locomotive fleet is the most sensitive damage inflicted by UAV attacks. Modern mainline diesel and electric locomotives are an labor-intensive and high-tech product; their rapid replacement under conditions of sanctions and component shortages is becoming a task of increased complexity, requiring the diversion of capacity from key factories.
Russian Railways (RZD) announced a temporary suspension of ticket sales for some trains traveling from the south of the country, in particular, to destinations to popular resorts on the Black Sea coast and the Caucasian Mineral Waters. This decision was caused by the need to carry out repair work on the infrastructure, which undoubtedly affects the interests of many passengers planning their trips in early autumn.
As became known from the company’s statement, ticket sales will be resumed shortly after adjusting the train schedule.
Many have already noticed the absence of tickets for certain days in September in online sales. This caused a wave of questions among travelers. In response to this, Russian Railways urged customers to follow updates via the mobile application, where they can enable notifications about the resumption of sales for routes of interest.
Countermeasures
The Russian leadership and the command of the Russian Armed Forces are aware of the critical importance of protecting communication routes, so in May-June, a set of measures to enhance security was launched.
Russian Railways, together with defense enterprises, began equipping the cabins of diesel locomotive drivers operating in border zones and Crimea with additional anti-drone nets and elements of dynamic or composite armor.
Key junction stations, such as Dzhankoy, Taman, Bataysk, and the long-distance trains themselves, began to be prioritized for equipping with mobile and stationary electronic warfare systems to intercept the control channels of Ukrainian drones.
At the same time, the Russian National Guard and the company’s armed guards were placed on enhanced duty. Regular patrolling with the use of light domestically produced quadcopters is practiced on the stretches.
In addition, at the legislative level, strict fines and direct prohibitions were introduced on the publication of photo and video materials recording the places of impacts, the flight trajectories of unmanned aerial vehicles, or the operation of air defense systems near transport facilities.
Systemic Solutions Needed
Over the past two months, the Ukrainian attacks have clearly demonstrated that the Russian railway has turned into a full-fledged front.
The Kiev regime attacks the most critical targets — people and scarce equipment — seeking to sow panic among the civilian population, disrupt the summer season, and destabilize logistics.
The domestic transport system is demonstrating a colossal margin of safety. Restoration teams eliminate the consequences of strikes within hours, and train traffic is quickly brought back on schedule.
However, cosmetic measures in the form of repairing relay cabinets are no longer sufficient. Russia’s railway network, especially in its southern and border contours, requires a transition to full military footing.
This implies total coverage of junction stations with short-range air defense systems, the creation of redundant autonomous power supply systems, and a radical strengthening of criminal liability for any forms of assistance to enemy transport terrorism.
This is a translation of the article, first published on Rossa Primavera News Agency website.
