A unit of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces' "Resistance Movement" sabotaged a train in Russian-occupied Melitopol that was carrying ammunition and fuel for the Russian military, the Special Operations Forces reported on Oct. 13.
Earlier on Oct. 13, the National Resistance Center reported that at around 7:40 a.m., pro-Ukrainian partisans blew up a train that, on a daily basis, carries fuel and ammunition from Crimea to the Russian-occupied cities of Melitopol and Dniprorudne.
The sabotaged train also carried damaged equipment and looted goods such as iron ore and grain in the opposite direction, the report said.
According to the National Resistance Center, 150 meters of railway and a locomotive were damaged as a result of the explosion.
Russian occupying authorities are reportedly trying to cover up the incident, while the saboteurs who carried out the operation are safe and "promise even more such explosions in the near future," the Center said.
The report noted that this was allegedly the 10th successful railway sabotage in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast carried out by Ukrainian resistance since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Ukraine's Special Operations Forces began preparing fighters of the Resistance Movement in 2021, months before the start of the full-scale war.
Having an official status as special forces soldiers, the Movement's members are tasked to stay behind enemy lines in occupied territories, conduct sabotage operations, and train the civilian population to resist the occupiers.
Melitopol, a city with a population of about 150,000 people, has been occupied since March 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.
Several cases of explosions at the city's railway infrastructure have been reported since the start of the occupation.
Daria Shulzhenko
(Updated: )
