Russia Parks 2,100 Freight Train Cars on Ukraine Border in Defensive Tactic

Russia has come up with a unique solution to keep out the Ukrainian counteroffensive: lining up a 19-mile barrier of freight trains in occupied Donetsk Oblast.

Knewz.com has learned that the Russian armed forces have been making slow but steady progress on several Ukrainian strongholds over the past few weeks.

Russia has constructed a 19-mile stretch of mobile freight train wall to thwart the Ukrainian counteroffensive. By: MEGA

It seems Vladimir Putin’s forces intend to hold the regained ground any way they can, as they implement their mobile defensive wall against future Ukrainian assaults.

The Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) stated that Russia has been building the 19-mile stretch of freight train wall for around nine months.

“Satellite imagery dated May 10, 2023, and February 6 and 10, 2024 shows that Russian forces constructed a long line of train cars stretching from occupied Olenivka (south of Donetsk City) to Volnovakha (southeast of Vuhledar and north of Mariupol) over the past nine months,” the ISW wrote in their assessment of the Russian campaign on February 11.

“A Ukrainian source reported on February 11 that Russian forces have assembled more than 2,100 freight cars into a 30-kilometer-long train,” the report added.

The report from ISW noted that the location where the freight train wall was being constructed was relatively inactive in terms of ongoing conflict when the construction began in July 2023.

ISW noted that the location where the freight train wall was being constructed was relatively inactive when the construction began in July 2023. By: MEGA

“The railway line between Olenivka and Volnovakha is roughly six kilometers from ISW’s current assessed frontline southeast of Novomykhailivka at its closest point and is in an area of the front that was relatively inactive when Russian forces reportedly began construction,” the report said.

While an unprecedented and ambitious endeavor, the effectiveness of the freight train wall is yet to be seen, as Ukraine continues to challenge Russian possessions of reclaimed land.

The Ukrainian open-source intelligence tracker DeepState wrote about the latest development, according to The Sun: “This is a very specific engineering structure, the effectiveness of which is difficult to assess… The idea is clear—an obstacle to the advancement of the (Ukrainian) Defense Forces.”

However, DeepState added, “It can be considered as a separate line of defense, because it is extremely difficult to damage, move or blow up a 30-kilometer-long mass of metal, and the movement of equipment through such an obstacle without breaking through the corridor is impossible.”

The construction of the mobile wall is likely a bid to not lose the upper hand in the progress Russia has been making. By: MEGA

Placing a formidable barrier such as this in Donetsk Oblast makes sense, as Ukraine and Russia are engaged in a significant conflict in the key city of Avdiivka, located miles from occupied Donetsk, where Russian forces have been attempting to make further progress.

Knewz.com wrote in January that Russia managed to break through the defenses of this significant town in Ukraine using a sudden change in tactics.

Russia has adopted a shift in strategy while attacking Avdiivka, as troops repositioned themselves from the open fields and hills on the northern and western sides of the city to the forested south and east sides.

According to the Telegram channel Military Informer, Russian soldiers managed to get behind Ukrainian fortifications and reached the southern end of the city by pulling off a Shawshank Redemption move: using sewage tunnels.

A Telegram channel named Peterenko+ Reports wrote: “Heavy fighting is taking place in the southern part of [Avdiivka] along Sobornaya, Sportivnaya, and Chernyshevsky streets, as well as to the west and southeast of the Tsar’s Hunt complex. The situation remains dynamic. Defense forces repelled attacks northeast of Berdychi, in the Stepovoy area, and Pervomaisky.”

Ukraine and Russia are engaged in a significant conflict in the key city of Avdiivka, located miles from occupied Donetsk. By: MEGA

As ISW wrote, the construction of the mobile wall is likely a bid to not lose the upper hand in the progress Russia has been making.

Speaking of the state of the Russian forces, the independent think tank also mentioned that while military observers in Ukraine have reported that the Russian defense industrial base (DIB) is not as productive as the Kremlin reports it to be, it “is still capable of sustaining Russia’s war effort.”

“Russia’s ability to modernize and use tanks retrieved from storage still gives Russian forces an advantage on the battlefield in the overall number of available tanks. Mashovets noted that some newly-produced tanks such as the T-14 Armada are poorly produced whereas older tanks such as T-72s (which Russia actively repairs) are more reliable,” the report stated.