Pro-Ukrainian partisans said on Sunday they had “destroyed” equipment along a railway running through the eastern Ukrainian Luhansk region, in the latest of claimed attacks by Kyiv-aligned operatives against Russia.
Why It Matters
Russia annexed Luhansk, along with the neighboring Donetsk region and southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts, in fall 2022. Luhansk and Donetsk collectively make up the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, the country’s traditional industrial heartland.
Moscow had seized Crimea, to the south of mainland Ukraine, from Kyiv in 2014 as it backed pro-Kremlin separatists in the Donbas.
Russia’s grip on these five regions is not internationally recognized.
Sergey Averin / Sputnik via AP
What To Know
Atesh, a pro-Ukrainian partisan group active in Crimea and other parts of Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory, said on Sunday its members had “destroyed” transformer equipment along the railway used by Russian troops to transport troops and supplies close to the town of Stanytsia Luhanska.
The town sits northeast of the regional capital, Luhansk City, roughly 11 miles west of internationally recognized Russian territory.
Russia controls the vast majority of Luhansk.
The “successful sabotage” disrupted Russian logistics and caused delays in Moscow’s deliveries of equipment and spare parts, the partisans said.
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
The Atesh movement said it was “systematically” targeting transport infrastructure used by Moscow in Russian-held areas.
The group said earlier in April it destroyed another transformer unit along a railway close to the Russian city of Kemerovo, in southwestern Siberia.
The railway linked up Russian military production facilities, including a plant making ammunition, according to Atesh. “The number of disruptions on railways throughout the Russian Federation will only increase,” the group said.
Overnight Attacks
Kyiv said Russia had launched 149 strike drones at Ukraine overnight, with its air defenses intercepting 57 of the uncrewed aerial vehicles.
Moscow targeted Donetsk, as well as the central Dnipropetrovsk and Cherkasy regions and parts of northern, southern and western Ukraine, the air force said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday it had intercepted three Ukrainian drones over Crimea earlier in the day. In earlier statements, the Kremlin said air defenses had shot down eight drones over the border Bryansk region since 10:30 p.m. Moscow time (3:30 p.m. ET) Saturday.
What People Are Saying
The Atesh group said Russian forces used the railway “to transport resources for supplying troops, as well as military equipment.”
What Happens Next
“In the near future, there will be more and more such strikes,” the Atesh group said.