According to a Ukrainian source, Russia wants to paralyze the railway network before the offensive

Russia is preparing for a new offensive and attacks on the Ukrainian rail network are trying to paralyze military supplies, including Western aid. An unnamed high-ranking Ukrainian official told AFP on Friday, a day after Russia struck railway infrastructure in three Ukrainian regions. The attacks in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions were confirmed today by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

“These are classic pre-offensive measures,” said a high-ranking source in the Ukrainian security forces on condition of anonymity. According to him, the goal is to make it impossible for Kiev to deliver military equipment to the front, which, among other things, is provided to Ukraine by Western allies.

“In recent weeks, Ukraine has seen an increase in attacks directly on the railway infrastructure,” writes AFP. On Thursday, three employees of the railway company Ukrzaliznycja were killed in an attack on the railway premises in Udačno, near Pokrovsk. On the same day, ten civilians were injured by a Russian attack on a railway station in the city of Balakliya in the Kharkiv region, and infrastructure was damaged by an attack in the city of Smila in the Cherkasy region in the central part of the country.

“We hit a train with Western weapons and military equipment near the town of Udachen,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement today, according to which its troops also attacked “soldiers and equipment” in Balaklia. No further details were mentioned, Kyiv did not comment on the claims of the Russian authorities.

Since March of this year, Russia has also stepped up its attacks targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. According to Kiev, Moscow is preparing a new major offensive, at a time when the United States approved a new billion-dollar military aid package to Ukraine after months of delays caused by internal political disputes.