Russia's new railway in occupied territories may pose serious problem – Ukraine warns

Ukraine's Defence Intelligence chief believes that the railway being built by the Russians on Ukrainian territory and connecting it with mainland Russia could be a problem, but he assumes that Ukraine will "cope with it".
Kyrylo Budanov, Head of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, said this.
"In fact, Russia has been building a railway to connect their own territory with our southern temporarily occupied territories for more than a year now. This process is almost complete, and it could pose a serious problem for us.
But I hope that we will somehow manage the land section of the railway.
Everyone has experience in this, and this is much easier than the Crimean bridge issue", Budanov added.
Earlier, UK Defence Intelligence reported that the Russians repaired the railway in Donetsk Oblast. UK intelligence examined the situation surrounding Russia's construction of a railway line through the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Observers noted that, on 18 March, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin mentioned the construction of a railway line from Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia to Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories through Crimea.
According to Putin, the new line will eventually reach Sevastopol and is intended to provide redundancy for the Kerch bridge.
Putin also stated that the first completed section of the railway has restored access to Berdiansk. This railway connection runs through territory that could be targeted by Ukrainian high-precision long-range systems.
The new railway line south of Donetsk is nearly 60 kilometres long and was constructed in eight months. The UK Ministry of Defence stated that it is almost certainly one of Russia's largest infrastructure projects in Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories. The constructed branch resumes railway communication disrupted by hostilities in Donetsk Oblast.
The new line's primary purpose is likely to support Russian activity in Mariupol.
This port city, destroyed by Russia in 2022, houses the Azovstal metallurgical plant and other heavy industry facilities, which, while severely damaged, Russia may attempt to repair and operate in the future, the analysts noted.