Ukraine's armed forces struck a railroad bridge over the Kalmius River, which was being built by Russia in the village of Hranitne near occupied Mariupol. As a result, the structure itself was destroyed, and fuel tanks and engineering vehicles were burned.
Source. This was reported by Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol.
According to him, the bridge was part of a Russian railroad that was supposed to connect the city with Rostov-on-Don and Taganrog. It is a "cut" into the Donetsk branch of the Mariupol-Aslanovo-Kalchyk-Volnovakha railroad.
The new route would allow the Russians to solve military and civilian logistics issues and reduce their dependence on the Crimean bridge.
"Now the issue of launching a direct railroad from Russia is closed for a long time," Andriushchenko said.
He added that the Russian military tried to shoot down the missiles with air defense systems, but to no avail, while the Ukrainian Armed Forces seized the moment and managed to locate the recently deployed anti-aircraft missile systems in the Mariupol area.
In November, it was reported that Russia began building a railroad that would run along the Azov Sea and connect directly to Rostov-on-Don, Taganrog, Mariupol, Berdiansk, Melitopol, and Dzhankoy. The new route was supposed to relieve the Crimean bridge and make the journey from Rostov region to Crimea 200 kilometers shorter.
According to the Kremlin-appointed "head" Yevhen Balytsky, the Kremlin-appointed "head" of Zaporizhzhia region, the railroad would run from Yakymivka, 30 km south of Melitopol, through Berdiansk and Mariupol to Rostov-on-Don. He noted that this should be a safe route that would allow for the supply of Russian troops in the southern direction.
As Radio Liberty has found out, Putin's friend Arkady Rotenberg will implement the project.