The Russians have built a 30 km long defense line based on railway wagons in the occupied Donetsk region. Sasha Vakulina takes stock of the situation on the ground.
Russian forces appear to have built a 30-kilometer-long barrier, nicknamed the “Tsar Train,” in the occupied Donetsk region, likely to serve as a defensive line against future Ukrainian assaults.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), satellite images dated May 10, 2023 and February 6 and 10, 2024 show that Russian forces constructed a long line of wagons extending from Olenivka occupied (south of Donetsk city) in Volnovakha (southeast of Vuhledar and north of Mariupol) for the past nine months.
An interactive online open-source Ukrainian intelligence map of military operations DeepState reported on February 11 that Russian forces had assembled more than 2,100 freight cars into a 30-kilometer-long train.
The source reported that Russian forces began assembling this train in July 2023 and suggested that Russian forces intended to use the train as a defensive line against future Ukrainian assaults.
The railway line between Olenivka and Volnovakha lies approximately six kilometers from the current front line assessed by the ISW, southeast of Novomykhailivka, at its closest point, and is in an area of the front which was relatively inactive when Russian forces reportedly began construction.
According to experts, Moscow’s army has made only marginal territorial gains in this area. This assembly of wagons could therefore have other purposes, but the ISW does not detail them at this stage.
