As Russian troops retreat after losing the vital Ukrainian city of Lyman, they must rebuild a front line to protect their dwindling gains – but a vital supply route has already been cut off.
The railway lines in north-eastern Ukraine converge at Kupiansk Vuzlovyi before heading south towards Svatove in the Luhansk region, now claimed by Moscow as annexed Russian territory.
During the first six months of this year’s Russian invasion of Ukraine, trains rattled through the massive marshalling yards of Kupiansk Vuzlovyi, hauling supplies to the occupying forces south.
But now the soldiers patrolling the modern — but badly damaged — train station are Ukrainians, and the tracks are silent.
“This place has always been considered a strategic destination, it’s a railroad and cargo connection point,” said “Rosomakha,” a soldier whose call sign is the Ukrainian word for “glutton.”
As Rosomakha’s unit visited the station on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Lyman, a frontline town in the Donetsk region, had been evacuated by Russian troops.
Kupiansk Vuzlovyi, an industrial suburb on the east bank of the Oskil River southeast of Kupiansk, fell a week earlier when Russian troops holed up in its brick factory retreated under fire.
Russian forces are now expected to try again to stem the Ukrainian offensive deeper into the area Moscow is said to have annexed, 30 kilometers (19 miles) along the railway line at Svatove.
– ‘Our country’ –
But Rosomakha and his comrades are not too worried. They claim that the Russians fled in disorder and that they are ready to move on once Ukraine reorganizes its forces in Kupyansk.
“They fled in panic and moved many units elsewhere in the middle of the summer,” he said, adding that the recently arrested prisoners gave them a good idea of ??Russian planning.
Ukraine, for example, knows that some of Russia’s positions have been reinforced by conscripts since President Vladimir Putin announced what he called a “partial mobilization” of reserve forces.
But they are not intimidated by this, nor by Moscow’s Friday claim that it has annexed four Ukrainian regions, including Luhansk and Donetsk, to Russia – a move rejected by the international community.
“Under Ukrainian law, this is Ukraine’s territory, this is our country,” Rosomakha told AFP at the Kupiansk Vuzlovyi train station, which was standing next to a crater left by a 120mm mortar shell fired by the retreating Russians became.
“I’m originally from the Lugansk region, so I won’t stop until the very last Russian is expelled from this country.”
Behind him, the tall glass windows of the train station are shattered, the ticket hall is empty and silent, the timetable still shows departure times to Kharkiv, Kyiv and the distant Black Sea port of Odessa.
