ChrisO_wiki Profile picture
Aug 1, 2022 13 tweets 4 min read Read on X
1/ Overnight news of a devastating Ukrainian HIMARS strike against a Russian ammunition train suggests to me that the Ukrainians have been rather clever in exploiting the limitations of the local rail network.
2/ The attack took place at Brylivka railway station, south-east of Kherson. Coincidentally, it's an area I remember from a visit many years ago. The whole area is a vast, flat, arid and frankly mononous farming region watered by irrigation canals.
3/ Brylivka owes its existence to the railway line, which was built in 1944 under Stalin to provide a second rail route to Crimea (the main line is further east, running from Melitopol to Simferopol). The village was founded the following year, presumably to house railway staff.
4/ But the line at Brylivka has three peculiarities. First and most importantly, the entire line from Kherson to Dzhankoy is only a single track line. Single track lines have a very limited capacity to carry trains. (Thanks to bueker.net for the map.)
5/ There had been a plan to upgrade the line to double tracks with electrification during the 2010s, but this fell through due to Russia's seizure of the Crimea in 2014.
6/ Second, Brylivka is equipped with a large set of passing loops (or passing sidings) which are long enough for large freight trains. Passing loops allow trains to pass in both directions on a single-line track. The Russian ammo train would have been stopped here.
7/ Third, Brylivka is just south of the North Crimean Canal, which waters the entire area (and Crimea). The railway line crosses it on a single-tack bridge – given its strategic importance, I wouldn't be surprised if Mr HIMARS paid it a visit soon.
8/ The line has not been very busy in recent years. Russia's takeover of the Crimea meant that long-distance and freight traffic ceased in 2014. Prior to the 2022 invasion, it reportedly only had 2 passenger trains a day between Kherson and Vadim, the last Ukrainian-held station.
9/ However, given Russia's dependency on railways for its military logistics (as noted by @TrentTelenko and others), the Russians are likely to have been making heavy use of the line to resupply their forces in occupied areas of Kherson oblast.
10/ They have also within the last month reopened the line from Kherson to Dzhankoy for passenger traffic, though I would imagine the timetable will be somewhat disrupted now. ria.ru/20220630/melit…
11/ So I think it's likely that the Ukrainians could predict where the ammo train would be stopping, because the single-track layout of the line likely required a stop at Brylivka's passing loops.
12/ The damage at Brylivka certainly looks severe, though I would imagine the Russians will be able to repair the track within a few days. But there's nothing they can do about the track's layout.
13/ Whatever else happens, the track is likely to remain single, there will continue to be a need for a passing loop at Brylivka, and trains will continue to need to stop there to allow other trains to pass. So this vulnerability isn't going to go away. /end

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More from @ChrisO_wiki

Jul 12
1/ Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Russian soldiers have been executed by their own side during the war in Ukraine – a practice called "zeroing out" or "resetting to zero". It's not just a disciplinary measure but a reflection of rampant corruption and criminality in the army. ⬇️ Image
2/ The Russian army has always practiced execution of its own men on a far greater scale than any Western military, including that of Nazi Germany. A comparison of military executions in the two World Wars illustrates this point.
3/ World War I:
🔺 United States – 11 men
🔺 Germany - 48
🔺 British Empire – 307
🔺 France – 650
🔺 Austria-Hungary - 1,148
🔺 Russian Empire – 10,000-20,000
Read 38 tweets
Jul 11
1/ A wounded Russian soldier has made a video appealing to be evacuated from the destroyed frontline town of Chasiv Yar where, he says, he has been stranded in a cellar for five months. ⬇️
2/ Chasiv Yar has been the scene of intense fighting since April 2024, in which thousands of Russian soldiers are likely to have died. Russia currently occupies about 90% of the town, which had a pre-war population of about 12,000.
3/ Murat Madzhitovich Gochiyaev of the 4th assault company of the 217th Guards Airborne Regiment (military unit 62295) says that he was wounded when he stepped on a mine while helping an injured comrade. Now, "I am alive, but I can't walk."
Read 9 tweets
Jul 11
1/ A widespread 'collapse' of Russian airports triggered by Ukrainian drones resulted from a cascading series of disruptions. Airports lacked stairs to disembark passengers, aircrew exceeded their regulation hours, and planes ran out of space to park. ⬇️
2/ A Ukrainian drone attack on targets in the Moscow region on 5 July triggered Russia's 'Carpet' plan – when aircraft are grounded until the alert is over. On this occasion, however, it triggered chaos across 10 timezones, costing an estimated 20 billion rubles ($256 million).
3/ Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport was among the worst affected. It was effectively shut down between 5 to 7 July, with thousands of passengers delayed by many hours. The incident shows how Ukraine's attacks can cause huge economic damage even without physically impacting targets.
Read 18 tweets
Jul 10
1/ Soldiers of the Russian 55th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade say that their unit is a "conveyor belt" of robbery, torture and death. Commanders are said to systematically extort soldiers before sending them to die in assaults, even making them pay to carry weapons. ⬇️ Image
2/ An unnamed soldier who says he has served with the brigade (military unit 55115) since December 2024 has recorded a video appealing to the Russian authorities. He asks them to investigate the personal finances of officers who he says are involved in extortion.
3/ The soldier says that he and his comrades are forced to transfer funds to platoon commanders with the call signs "Physicist" and "Charon", as well as company commander Andrei "Gerych" Gerasimov. Those who refused to pay were "eliminated".
Read 31 tweets
Jul 10
1/ An unusually frank Russian commentary admits that few survive serving in a stormtrooper unit and that "the phrase 'experienced stormtrooper' is an oxymoron". Thousands of deserters are reportedly being punished by being sent to such units as an effective death sentence. ⬇️ Image
2/ The author of the 'Mercenary Ivan Dain' Telegram channel writes: "For almost four years now, the attitude towards stormtroopers has not changed fundamentally."
3/ "Stormtroopers are one of the riskiest specialisms on the line of contact and the chances of seriously doing it for a long time are close to zero. Seriously, I have not met people who have been successfully engaged in stormtrooper work for a long period of time.
Read 16 tweets
Jul 10
1/ A former Russian police officer who is preparing for his imminent murder in Ukraine has recorded a farewell video explaining the circumstances of his death to his relatives. He says that a Russian major general has ordered that he is to die on the front line. ⬇️
2/ The video features a man named Mark Erikovich Sadykov, who says that because of some unspecified dispute, he was demoted and transferred to the 111th Regiment of the 9th Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade on the orders of "Major General Solovyov".
3/ (This may be a reference to Major General Igor Petrovich Solovyov, an FSB officer who has commanded an FSB special forces unit.)

Sadykov says he was a military police employee for seven years and a graduate of the prestigious Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School.
Read 15 tweets

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