Rail lines blown up again in occupied Melitopol – partisan attack claimed

An unknown person or persons blew up a railroad track and halted trains in occupied Melitopol, in another possible partisan attack against Russian Federation (RF) supply lines in the south Ukrainian city, the UNIAN news agency, and other news platforms reported on Tuesday.

The explosives according to the report detonated in a rail switching station on May 23, some three kilometers from a Melitopol meat processing factory. An RF army-operated train responded to the scene, and RF police at road checkpoints exiting the city was interrogating travelers for information about the guerrillas, the pro-Ukraine RIA-Melitopol news platform reported on May 24, citing eyewitnesses.

Ivan Federiv, Melitopol’s mayor-in-exile, in a May 24 statement to Ukrainian media said civilian partisans in the city were working with Ukraine Armed Forces (UAF) special operations soldiers to hit targets behind RF lines.

The partisan/UAF sabotage team over the past 24 hours had carried out a series of operations in and around Melitopol’ to hinder or destroy weapons and ammunition deliveries to RF troops and Ukrainian citizens collaborating with Kremlin forces, Federiv said.

He said the latest round of attacks was successful but did not offer details, citing a need to keep partisan missions and their participants secret. More attacks were planned, he said.

RF-associated media made no early report on the attack. The Kremlin-controlled Tipichny Melitopol news platform on 24 May, in the hours following the bombing, offered news to consumers images of soft drinks, liquor toothpaste, noodles and candy newly available in Melitopol stores, and video of city park fountains operating. The pro-Russia Readovka platform featured video of a Russian flag being raised above Melitopol’s central city square.

The rail bombing followed a May 18 bomb attack damaging the same armored train in the same switching station. RF forces subsequently repaired the armored train and the rail damage. The RIA Melitpol report said the Resistance will destroy the line and RF-controlled rolling stock as often as the RF fixes it.

RF authorities have struggled to gain full control of Melitopol, an agricultural and transportation hub overrun by Moscow’s troops on the first day of the war. Civilian demonstrations against RF rule lasted for almost two months until RF authorities brought in riot control police armed with flash grenades, clubs and tear gas to break up to the protests.

According to Ukrainian officials like Federiv, RF occupying authorities have further antagonized Melitopol residents by failing to stop looting by RF troops of civilian property, particularly valuables in unoccupied homes, automobiles and farm equipment. On May 22 an RF armored vehicle ran over a car driven by a Melitopol resident, hospitalizing her and totaling the vehicle, UNIAN reported.

Federiv in past statements claimed the Melitpol Resistance has assassinated more than 100 police working for RF authorities, but not offered evidence to back up the claim.