Weaknesses in Russian railroad from Rostov to Crimea: military expert Riabykh explains

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

“The enemy is doing this, let's say, not because they have no other things to waste their money on, but because they really feel threatened by their Kerch bridge and are preparing for the fact that it may be disrupted. In addition, they hope that such diversification will increase their logistics capabilities. It is well known that up to 75% of all Russia’s logistics is tied to rail transport, we are talking about the construction and commissioning of a railway section that will allow trains to run directly from Rostov region, past Mariupol and connect with the branch that goes down from Donetsk and Volnovakha to the south and then follows the southern route,” explained Riabykh.

The expert emphasized that Russia made the first test launch, but the analysis of the photos shows that the highway has certain limitations in its use.

“This is a single-track railroad, and it is not electrified. The enemy is taking this step deliberately to make the use of diesel locomotive traction more reliable. The fact that this is a single-track line means it has certain capacity limitations — about 10 trains per day. Analysis of the images of the trains currently moving shows that this track still has, and likely will continue to have, a limit on the maximum load, which means a limit on the number of cars. This presents a new task for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to consider how the enemy will provide logistics for its troops in the southern part of mainland Ukraine,” emphasized the development director of Defense Express, an information and consulting company.

This railroad adds new targets for Ukrainian defenders.

“It is not yet possible for the enemy to establish uninterrupted operation of this line in the near future, but there is a prospect of this happening this summer. The main task is to prevent its regular operation. There are at least two bottlenecks on the newly constructed sections: bridges over the Kalmius and Mius rivers. Therefore, these bottlenecks can become targets for strikes by the Ukrainian Defense Forces as well as for guerrilla and sabotage reconnaissance groups,” Riabykh added.

• The British Ministry of Defense emphasized that the railroad built by the Russians in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine is vulnerable to precision strikes by the Ukrainian side.
• On March 31, the head of the Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, said that the construction of a railroad by Russia in the temporarily occupied territories could pose a problem for Ukraine.
• On April 1, reports said that Russia was building the Rostov-Crimea railroad to supply its troops in the temporarily occupied territories of southern Ukraine, as Russian forces cannot do so through the Crimean bridge.