Mayor: Explosion reportedly damages railway in Russian-occupied Melitopol

An explosion has blocked a key Russian logistics route near occupied Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, exiled Mayor Ivan Fedorov said on June 14.

According to Fedorov, Russian forces have lost five freight wagons and 50 meters of railway track as a result.

He said that the explosion occurred at the "most convenient moment" when a train with stolen ore was on the track, adding that Russian forces are trying to turn Russian-occupied Melitopol into a logistics center.

Melitopol, a city with a population of about 150,000 people, has been occupied since late February 2022. The city serves as a railway center for Russian forces in southern Ukraine to move military equipment and is part of the land bridge that links Russia to the occupied Crimean peninsula.

Explosions occur regularly in the occupied territories as local Ukrainian partisan movements target occupation authorities, collaborators, and Russian military equipment. Moscow usually blames Ukraine for such incidents, while Kyiv doesn't take responsibility for the explosions.

Ukrainian forces have recently started using U.K.-provided Storm Shadow long-range missiles that can reach targets deep into Russian-occupied territories.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on May 28 that all the Storm Shadow missiles launched by the Ukrainian military to date hit their targets.

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