Russia builds alternative rail land corridor through Zaporizhzhia region

He shared the information on Espreso TV.

Serhiy Lyshenko commented on the construction of a railway line from Russia’s Rostov-on-Don to Crimea, part of which should run through the Zaporizhzhia region.

"Nearly the entire stretch of this railroad lies through the Zaporizhzhia region, primarily due to the relatively short distance from Mariupol to the border with the region. In fact, the enemy is building an alternative land corridor by rail along a highway that was built in Soviet times, and the occupiers have repaired it a bit and named it Tavrida-2. As for the railroad, the invaders announced its construction and began some work related to the excavation fields for laying railroad tracks," said the deputy of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Council.

He indicated that this is a substantial project with an extensive distance, yet it remains to be seen if Russia will be successful in completing it.

"Previously, all such infrastructure projects announced by the Russians ended in nothing. The fact is that the railway stations near Tokmak and in Komysh-Zorya are hubs for connecting Melitopol, Polohy, Tokmak with Mariupol and the territory of the Russian Federation in general - all of them are already in the direct hit zone of our HIMARS systems, long-range artillery, drones, etc. Therefore, it will be extremely difficult for the Russian military to use these stations in full," Lyshenko said.

• On September 27, Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, said that Russia was trying to build a direct railroad connection between its territory and the temporarily occupied cities of the Donetsk region - Mariupol, Volnovakha, and Donetsk.
• Subsequently, Defence Express suggested that the construction of a railroad connection between Russia and the temporarily occupied southern Ukraine would not be of significant benefit, as Russia would only be able to build isolated railroad islands.
• On October 15, the UK Ministry of Defense noted that Russian forces use the railway network in their logistics to move manpower and weapons, so the railway is one of the main targets for strikes by Ukraine.