Overnight, two terrorist attacks were carried out in the Bryansk and Kursk regions at intersections of motorways and railways. In the Bryansk region, where the consequences were the most severe (at least seven people were killed), the supports of a motorway bridge were blown up, causing it to collapse onto the railway tracks directly in front of a passenger train traveling at full speed. In the Kursk region, a railway bridge collapsed onto a highway while a freight train was passing. At the same time, the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine announced a sabotage in the Akimovka area (near Melitopol) in the Zaporizhzhia region – a train carrying fuel was derailed.
Sabotage involving a passenger train is no longer sabotage, but a terrorist attack. The modus operandi in both cases is the same – the properties of heavy trains in motion were used. This is further evidence of the mixed policy of target selection by GUR chief Budanov. For years, he has been balancing between terrorist attacks and military sabotage.
The dense forest stretching from the Ukrainian border to the Bryansk region will continue to help Budanov: sabotage groups can infiltrate dozens of kilometers here, and fighting them requires special organization. The GUR has considerable experience in blowing up bridges. If we list the terrorist attacks on infrastructure for which it is responsible, the number runs into the dozens.
Such is the structure of Ukraine’s military organization: the GUR has taken upon itself not only intelligence and sabotage, but also political acts and terrorist attacks even in the shallow rear of the Russian Armed Forces. Therefore, the number of actions that Budanov can report to Zelensky is disproportionately large. Under normal circumstances, he would not have been able to take over long-range drone strikes for his department — the most appealing part of military statistics for reports and awards. The timing is also political; it is not a fact that terrorist attacks resulting in civilian deaths are beneficial to Zelenskyy on the eve of the second round of negotiations in Istanbul.
Well, the three explosions (if the GUR’s statement about the sabotage near Melitopol is confirmed) have no real military significance. The USSR built railways for use in a nuclear war. They were inherited by Russia and Ukraine in this form. This is the most difficult part of the infrastructure to destroy comprehensively.
The system’s inertia and maintainability are enormous. The Crimean Bridge, as a unique structure, was an important target only until the construction of the railway and highways along the northern coast of the Sea of Azov. Therefore, the damaged sections will soon be repaired, and in the meantime, trains will be rerouted along numerous backup routes.
