Latest railway explosion in Crimea will undermine Russian weapons supply – UK intelligence

British intelligence believes the railway explosion in occupied Crimea may affect weapons delivery to Russia's Black Sea Fleet (BSF).

The UK Ministry of Defense reports on Twitter that a train derailed near Simferopol on May 18, blocking the only railway track to the port of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based.

"Russia will move to repair the line quickly, but the incident will disrupt deliveries of supplies and potentially also weaponry, such as Kalibr cruise missiles, to the BSF," the statement reads.

Russian forces use BSF for missile launches to attack the territory of Ukraine in massive missile strikes on civilian and energy infrastructure. 

British intelligence believes any sabotage in this vulnerable area "will further increase the Kremlin's concerns about its ability to protect other key infrastructure in Crimea."

"The peninsula retains a vital psychological and logistical role in enabling Russia's war in Ukraine," the analysts concluded.

Reference

The explosion occurred on the morning of May 18 in the temporarily occupied Crimea. A railway track was detonated by unknown persons in the Simferopol district, not far from the village of Chystenke.

As a result of the detonation, several carriages derailed, and the movement of trains was stopped—a large crater formed at the site of the explosion. In total, eight cars derailed, five of them overturned.

Ukrainian intelligence commented on the incident and said it doesn't rule out that similar events will repeat in Crimea until the peninsula occupied and illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 is liberated.