Ukrainian resistance fighters carried out a sabotage mission in the occupied city of Melitopol on the morning of October 13.
At approximately 7:30 a.m., Ukrainian saboteurs planted explosives along the railway tracks, causing a devastating explosion that damaged both the railway infrastructure and the train carrying supplies to Russian occupiers.
The operation successfully severed a vital link in Russia’s supply chain on the Zaporizhzhia front.
The operation was executed by a unit of the Resistance Movement, part of the Special Operations Forces (SOF) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
A spokesperson for the SOF said: “Today, on 13 October, a unit of the Resistance Movement of the Special Operations Forces carried out a successful operation in the temporarily occupied city of Melitopol. Thanks to the sabotage actions of our soldiers, a railway line was blown up at 07:30. The explosion damaged the railway track and a train delivering ammunition and fuel to the Russian army.”
The explosion inflicted significant damage, affecting approximately 150 meters of the railway tracks and damaging a locomotive. The Ukrainian saboteurs who carried out the operation have managed to evade capture and remain at large, vowing to continue their campaign of disruption.
Russian occupying authorities have reportedly attempted to downplay the incident, but the National Resistance Center has asserted that the saboteurs are safe and have pledged to conduct further operations in the near future.
This incident marks the tenth successful railway sabotage operation in the occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast carried out by Ukrainian resistance fighters since the commencement of the full-scale Russian invasion.
The Resistance Movement, a unit of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, began preparing its fighters in 2021, months before the outbreak of the full-scale conflict.
Members of the Resistance Movement are officially designated as special forces soldiers, tasked with operating behind enemy lines in occupied territories.
Their mission includes conducting sabotage operations and training the civilian population to resist the occupiers, as demonstrated in today’s successful disruption of Russian supply lines.
Melitopol has remained under Russian occupation since March 2022. The city holds strategic significance as a railway center, facilitating the movement of military equipment for Russian forces in southern Ukraine and serving as a vital link connecting Russia to the occupied Crimean peninsula.
