Ukrainian troops wreck Russian fuel tanks worth $4 million

• 15 December, 13:56

Ukrainain army units, jointly with the Ukrainian Security Service, known as SBU, have destroyed with US-supplied HIMARS long-range missile Russian fuel tanks worth $4 million in south-eastern Zaporizhzhia region, the intelligence sources told local media on Sunday.

The train with the fuel tanks was attacked on Saturday with the aim to cut off logistical supply routes delivering fuel from Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula to the invaded parts of Zaporizhzhia region. The operation to destroy the train that was en route near the village of Oleksiivka in Bilmak district was carried out jointly by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), in collaboration with the Tavria Operational Strategic Group, the Main Intelligence Directorate (DIU), Special Operations Forces (SOF), and the Drone Force conducted a unique multi-stage special operation. 

First, a counterintelligence Department under SBU destroyed railroad tracks while a train with tanks was moving near the village of Olekseevka in the Bilmak district. The explosion derailed the train, causing ignition of some of the tanks. Later, Ukrainian troops struck the locomotive and the outermost carriages of the train with Tavria HIMARS and MLRS. Apart from 40 tank cars and the locomotive, a key railway line providing Russian troops with logistic supply was also disabled. Russian military movements have increased in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, causing concerns in Ukraine and forcing Kyiv implement security measures. In the recent of such counter-offensive measures, Ukraine is constructing multi-level fortifications to repel Russian attacks, according to Zaporizhzhia mayor Oleksandr Fedorov. Russia has stepped up attacks in the east and south of Ukraine. On November 25, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the threat of a renewed offensive in Zaporizhzhia remains high.