A senior Ukrainian security source told AFP on Friday that Russia has stepped up attacks on railway infrastructure to disrupt the movement of military supplies, including Western aid.
Russian troops have an advantage in firepower and manpower over Ukrainian forces along the entire front line, and Kyiv has warned that fighting will be particularly difficult in the coming weeks.
The increase in deadly attacks is aimed at destroying railway facilities and “paralyzing the supply and movement of military cargo” ahead of a planned Russian offensive, the source said.
“These are standard steps before an offensive,” they added.
Regional officials and the Ukrainian railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia reported an increase in the number of deadly attacks on railway facilities.
Three railway workers were killed and four more were injured, the company said, during a Russian missile attack on the eastern part of the Donetsk region.
Ten civilians were also wounded on Thursday when Russian troops attacked railway facilities in Balakleya, Kharkiv region.
“We are seeing strikes related to railway logistics, and they have affected mainly civilian facilities,” Alexander Pertsovsky, head of the passenger transportation department of Ukrzaliznytsia, told AFP.
Russia's Defense Ministry said Friday that its forces struck "Western weapons and military equipment" transported by rail in the Donetsk region a day earlier, as well as railway facilities in the Kharkov region.