Ukraine Drone Derails, Ignites Fuel Train, Blocks Russian Arsenal 300Km From Front

The strategic planning and level of precision are impressive: striking a target 300 kilometers from Ukraine, derailing  a train (hard to do), carrying fuel which ignites, blocking the entrance to one of Russia's key ammunition production facilities. 

Compare with Russia firing missiles at random civilian apartment buildings in Ukrainian cities. JL 

Defense Express reports:

Overnight May 14th, a train carrying fuel was knocked over in the Volgograd region of Russia. Nine fuel tanks derailed, two of which caught fire, and one exploded. Several cars with wood and scrap metal also rolled over. A locomotive weighing 130 tons was swept away. It was an attack by a Ukrainian drone. The Kotluban station is located at the exit of the Russian defense ministry's Main Missile and Artillery Directorate arsenal. The strike complicates transfer of ammunition from this arsenal.

Overnight May 14th, 2024, a train carrying fuel tankers was knocked over at the Kotluban station in the Volgograd region of russia, local media report. According to the messages, nine fuel tanks derailed, two of which caught fire, and one exploded altogether.

However, the videos on social networks filmed on the scene significantly complement the picture: we can see that several cars with wood and scrap metal also rolled over, one of the eyewitnesses commenting that a locomotive weighing 130 tons was swept away somewhere.

Read more: ​Meet the Ninja: Name of Ukraine's Largest-Reaching Drone of 1,500 km Revealed

Initially, some russian sources attributed the incident to an "intervention of third parties," but then changed the narrative and explained it by an attack by a Ukrainian drone.

 

At first glance, the object of the attack itself (i.e. the railway echelon) may not look too impressive, there is no military equipment there, only fuel tanks and cars filled with scrap metal and wood. But the real significance lies in the details.

To begin with, the Kotluban railway station is located at the exit pathway from an important arsenal of the russian defense ministry's Main Missile and Artillery Directorate (GRAU), military unit 57229/51. Accordingly, the military significance of the strike is that it at least complicated the transfer of ammunition from this arsenal for a certain amount of time. Worth noting, drone strikes in this area have been systematic for a while now. Open source data indicates there were at least three other attacks targeting the arsenal near Kotluban on November 16th and 24th, 2023, and also on March 8th, 2024.

GRAU arsenal of the russian Ministry of Defense near the Kotluban station / Illustrative photo credit: Wikimapia

The scale of the damage this time is no less important: with the entire cargo train weighing several hundred tons was derailed like that, if a Ukrainian drone really managed to do that, it means it was able to knock over a body hundred times heavier than the UAV itself.

In essence, it doesn't really matter what exactly type of drone the Ukrainian Defense Forces could have used for this strike, as their differences pale in comparison to the effect of the hit landed. Meaning such a result was clearly determined not only by the specifications of the drone but also by the skill of the operator piloting in during the attack.

Illustrative photo: Ukrainian attack drone Liutyi / Open-source photo

Previously, Defense Express covered a new unexpected trend on the part of the Ukrainian military to target railway infrastructure with drone strikes, and most importantly, it's very difficult for russians to find an answer since the vulnerable spots of railway networks are too scattered and numerous to cover them all up with air defenses.