In the SVO zone, a 30-kilometer “Tsar Train” of two thousand cars was filmed. Why do Russian troops need it?
The 30-kilometer “Tsar Train” of more than two thousand cars, created by Russian troops in the Special Military Operation zone, was filmed for the first time. The existence of a huge fortification on the railway tracks has been known since February 2024.
The footage of the “Tsar Train” was filmed by a man whose name and military affiliation are not disclosed. The recording shows a small section of the “famous Donetsk barricade”, consisting of various types of freight cars, including tanks. According to the operator, several movable locomotives are installed between them throughout the structure, so that the barricade can move. “It is impossible for either a tank or any armored vehicles to get through these cars. And the infantry, when the cars are moving, cannot slip between the wheels,” he explained.
In addition, the author of the video demonstrated the reinforcements of the cars, which will not allow them to separate if the train capsizes.
The Russian “Tsar Train” was found using radar images from American satellites
Information about the 30-kilometer train appeared in Ukrainian Telegram channels in the winter of 2024. The barricade was discovered in photographs taken by American satellites. As it became known, construction of the structure began in July 2023. Today, the structure connects the railway station in Yelenovka, Donetsk People's Republic, with the outskirts of Volnovakha, serving as a defense line.
According to Ukrainian analysts, the barricade was created with the aim of blocking the movement of armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces into the depths of the Russian defense.
"Tsar Train" was created as part of the defensive "Surovikin Line"
As DPR reserve officer Alexander Matyushin said, the “Tsar Train” is part of the so-called defensive “Surovikin Line” - a network of fortifications erected to repel the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Among other things, this defensive system includes trenches, minefields and firing positions. According to a military expert, the barricade of trains was created to counter attacks by tank columns.
“But this is only an obstacle. You can't put infantry there. These cars will be hit by artillery and FPV drones, and if they were filled with concrete from the inside, creating an analogue of the Chinese wall, then we could still count on something,” he explained.
This is not the only huge defensive structure in the Special Military Operation zone
In February, it became known that an “underground city” had appeared in the Kherson direction of the Special Military Operation for fighters of the Dnepr group of troops. The communications of the structure are laid at a depth of about three meters, and the total length of passages and trenches exceeds three kilometers.
The residential dugouts of the “city,” covered with airfield slabs and earthen embankments, can accommodate up to eight people. The premises are equipped with stoves and communications equipment, as well as electricity. In addition, for the military there is a kitchen and dining room, a bathhouse, a laundry, a drying room, a clothing repair shop, a hairdresser, and a gym.