A Russian armored military train has appeared on a rail line in Ukraine’s Kherson region on a separate and unconnected line about 100 miles away from where an armored military train was spotted heading toward Melitopol.
CNN has geolocated and verified the authenticity of the videos.
In the videos, which have been published on social media in the last 24 hours, the hallmark gun cars and armored train engines are seen moving west into central Kherson.
At least one bulldozer is seen on the videos sitting on a flatbed train car.
One resident within Kherson confirmed they had personally seen the train on Thursday in Kherson. CNN is not naming the residents over concerns for their safety.
The resident told CNN that they observed a number of military vehicles on the train.
On Tuesday, CNN reported that a Russian armored military train, carrying at least one military vehicle, was seen heading north on another train track in southeastern Ukraine near Novooleksiivka, Ukraine. Both armored military trains — the one in Novooleksiivka and in Kherson — came from Crimea, based on eyewitness footage CNN verified from social media.
Russia’s apparent ability to utilize and move the armored trains freely around parts of southern Ukraine speaks to their uncontested control of the area south of the Dnieper River in the broader Kherson region. It could also indicate that they are solidifying their resupply lines from bases in Russian-annexed Crimea, and deeper in Russia, for their military operations in southern Ukraine.
In northern Ukraine, Russian military advances have been repeatedly hampered by Ukrainian military forces taking out a number of supply and logistics convoys.
What Russia is saying: TV Zvedza, the press service for the Russian Ministry of Defense, claimed on Tuesday that an armored train in Ukraine was transporting non-Russian foreign nationals out of the country and into Russian-annexed Crimea. Russian state media outlet Russia-1 claimed in a report on Wednesday evening that the foreign nationals were transported from the Kherson region to Armyansk, Crimea.
Armyansk has direct rail links to Kherson, but in territory controlled by the Russians, and that line does not intersect with the sole line that goes to Novooleksiivka.
CNN’s Mariya Knight contributed reporting to this post.
Source: www.cnn.com