Ukraine's Intelligence conducts operations on Russia’s territory 1,000 kilometers away from Ukraine. Column by Serhiy Zgurets

Blowing up a railway bridge in Russia

The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine has confirmed the explosion of a railway bridge in Russia, which is 1,000 km from Ukraine on the way to powerful explosives manufacturers. It was a railroad bridge over the Chapayevka River in the Samara region that was blown up on March 4 at 6 a.m. And recently it became known that several other improvised explosive devices were found on the tracks, in addition to those that blew up this bridge.

Russia used this railway line to transport goods, including engineered ammunition produced by the Polymer plant in Chapayevsk. The distance from the explosion site to the munitions plant is less than 5 km in a straight line. This plant is part of the state-owned Rostec Corporation, which specializes in meeting the needs of the Russian army. Polymer, as it is written on the website of this enterprise, produces explosives and MON-90 anti-personnel mines.

However, there is another enterprise in Chapayevsk that Ukraine's Intelligence does not mention for some reason - Promsintez JSC, which annually produces 30 30,000 tons of various explosives. At the same time, it is worth noting that the bridge explosion does not mean a complete paralyzation of these logistics processes because the damaged bridge over the Chapayevka River is only one of two. Also, no one canceled the road connection, but perhaps the several other explosive devices found by Russians after the explosion could have been intended to completely cut off the connection with Chapayevsk.

Still, this shows that the Intelligence Service is systematically working to complicate the production of military products at the aggressor's enterprises and that the depth of the Intelligence's operation demonstrates multivariate ways of influencing the Russian enemy, and not only with the help of drones and missiles, because 1000 km is a considerable distance for such operations.

Situation at the front

At the moment, the Russian army is trying to conduct attacks on several fronts. It seeks to take advantage of its superiority in manpower, artillery, and aviation and is actively using the KABs. Over the past day, March 3, 78 clashes took place. This is not a peak figure, because the peak was a couple of weeks ago, when 102 clashes took place. But still, two areas remain the most difficult: the Novopavlivka direction, which unites Marinka and the Vuhledar sector, where 30 combat engagements took place. The second component is west of Avdiivka, where 20 combat clashes took place.

When speaking about the situation to the west of Avdiivka, we know that the fighting is ongoing on the Berdychi-Semenivka-Orlivka-Tonenke-Pervomayske line. Ukrainian brigades that were holding the defense of Avdiivka have withdrawn to this line. Fighting is taking place near these villages or in the villages themselves, where the Russian troops are trying to break through using armored vehicles. We understand that they will try to push the defense line and advance as far west as possible. They are not succeeding, but the dynamics in each of the settlements are quite complicated.

When it comes to Berdychi, the northernmost settlement in this area, the 47th Brigade is holding the line quite steadily. It prevents the Russian troops from advancing, as they entered the village, but they were driven out. Currently, the situation there is quite positive in terms of holding positions.

The situation in Orlivka is more complicated, as the Russian army has managed to break through the strongholds in certain areas. Some buildings with basements have been captured, where they will probably amass forces to launch further offensives. Yesterday, on March 3, it was said that Orlivka was held 50-50 by Ukrainian and Russian troops. Today, these figures are a bit worse. And there are certain risks of an offensive from Orlivka to the north, to Berdychi.

Tonenke - the situation is quite dynamic, about 40% of the settlement is Ukraine's, a little more is Russia's, but this is an assumption because the situation is constantly changing.

The Russian forces will keep trying to put pressure. Ukraine's issue is the availability of forces, means, reserves, and motivation to deter the invaders. Reserves have been deployed in this area that are quite active. It is premature to talk about where the next line of defense will be, although fortifications are indeed being built. There are different assessments of the state of these fortifications. The public opinion that fortifications need to be improved is an impetus to speed up this work and activities on all front lines.

On the military command, control system and the defense industry

Pavlo Kyshkar, deputy battalion commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and head of the Defense Ministry's Accelerator project office, said that the trend of personnel changes has begun not only in words but also legally. Admiral Ihor Voronchenko, the head of the Main Inspectorate of the Defense Ministry, has been appointed head of the commission to inspect all structural units of the Chief of Staff, the General Staff, and the Defense Ministry. In a month and a half, we will be able to see the conclusions. After all, it is wrong when 10 or more military command and control bodies or military units subordinated to these military command and control bodies, which are mostly located in Kyiv, are dealing with one topic. This is absolutely wrong. We have a similar situation with innovations, IT, UAVs, the development of communication systems, and several other areas where to put it mildly, there is a mess. This cannot happen in the military command system.

The deputy battalion commander of the Armed Forces believes that the next step after the reduction of these units should be legal changes, in particular, the signing of long-term, multi-year contracts for the production of Ukrainian weapons. This is a requirement of the time, which the Ministry of Defense will fulfill quickly enough to have these weapons and equipment on the front line tomorrow. These types of weapons exist. At the last meeting of the Headquarters, Colonel Andriy Lebedenko presented modern developments that made a splash among the people who were invited. Accordingly, this should be used, including through these long-term contracts.

Kyshkar noted that there are absolutely unique projects that Ukraine will enter foreign markets with after the war. From what we can tell, these are the well-known projects Tandem and Shablia for automated fire and destruction of both manpower and armored vehicles - these are unique products of the Ukrainian defense industry that can already change the situation on the front line today. These are the high-tech products we are talking about when it comes to technological mobilization. The second key issue is legal assistance to Ukrainian manufacturers so that they can plan their work. Third, we need to improve human mobilization, which has become worse than it was at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

To summarize Mr. Kyshkar's remarks, I would like to note that the technological direction remains extremely important for the development, strengthening and improvement of the capabilities of Ukrainian troops on the battlefield.