By: Giorgio Provinciali
Live from Ukraine ????????
Kropyvnytskyi Sixty-one rescuers and 14 emergency response vehicles werent enough to handle the aftermath of the recent heavy Russian attack on the civilian population of Kirovohrad oblast, which remains devastated to an unimaginable degree as of now, with at least 44 settlements in the Oleksandrivka Territorial Community without power.The Russian Armed Forces have once again targeted Ukraines railway infrastructure and the power substations that supply it, attacking them last night alone with 172 drones, an Iskander-M or North Korean KN-23 ballistic missile, and one fired from an S-300 system modified to hit ground targets.
Their goal was clearly to disrupt the Ukrainian rail logistics branch that supplies the military stationed in Pokrovsk from the western regions, causing serious problems for the Russian forces.
The result was the disruption of at least 26 passenger trains, primarily on the Pomichna-Kropyvnytskyj-Znamianka-Piatykhatky and Fundukliivka-Znamianka-Piatykhatky routes, which at the time of the bombing were carrying more than 20 convoys loaded with civilians. By deploying an equal number of reserve locomotives, Ukrzaliznytsia quickly responded to this emergency, rerouting those carriages to alternative routes.
Beyond the senselessness of the attacks it conducts, which, with their extreme precision, end up recklessly targeting the Ukrainian civilian population, this approach is based on a clear fundamental flaw.
The Russians continue to approach problems from a Soviet perspective, concentrating massive amounts of fire on targets that no longer hold the same value they might have had under the USSR and in todays Russian Federation. Whilethe latter still relies heavily on rail transportbecause road connections between (to mention one) Rostov-on-Don and the military logistics hubs that should supply the Donbas front are, to say the least, abysmal if not entirely impassable,Ukraine can depend on a modern, high-speed European road network.
Traveling across the whole country from the oblast of Lviv to that of Donetsk by car nowadays takes little more than a dozen hours, whereas a few years ago, it would have taken at least twice that long. As Ive written several times, although it has been unfairly criticized by laypeople and inexperienced observers, thismeasurestrongly supported by the current governmentis saving the situation at the front and, consequently, the country.
Zelensky immediately understood that modernizing the country with a European perspective would be the key to avoiding succumbing to an enemy that was many times larger but backward and anchored to methods born out of the last century. For this reason, he diverted a large portion of the economic funds allocated by countries like Japan, which provide Ukraine with civilian and humanitarian aid but not military aid, to resurfacing Ukraines roads.
From this perspective,the current Russian Federation is a clay giant, having failed to find alternative solutions to current problems, such as road traffic. The targeted attacks that Ukraine, when roles are reversed, launches against its railway infrastructure end up causing significant problems, paralyzing its military logistics, sometimes for extended periods due to international sanctions that make it hard to obtain some key technological components. Therefore, while the Ukrainian railway system is gradually merging with the European onenote that since last Friday, direct passenger trains from Uzhhorod to Bratislava, Vienna, and Budapest have started runningand only partially supports the flow of weapons to the front because it is backed by a dense modern road network,the Russian railway system continues to serve as a crucial strategic element for military logistics without viable alternatives.
Beyond proving thatZelenskys strategy has turned structural modernization into a resilience booster, as seen in Ukrzaliznytsias capacity to deploy reserve locomotives, reroute convoys, and sustain international links even under attack, yesterdays bombings reveal thatthe Soviet tactic of focusing massive firepower on infrastructure that no longer serves its former logistical purpose is a serious mistake. This approach makes giants like Russia vulnerable to targeted strikes, whereasEuropean integration remains an effective strategic advantage.
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战争中的铁路
作者：Giorgio Provinciali
来自乌克兰的现场报道????????
Kropyvnytskyi61名救援人员和14辆紧急救援车辆不足以应对近期俄罗斯对基洛夫格勒州（Kirovohrad oblast）平民的猛烈袭击所造成的后果，截至目前，该州仍然受到难以想象的破坏，至少有44个奥列克桑德里夫卡辖内的定居点断电。俄罗斯武装部队再次以乌克兰的铁路基础设施和供电变电站为目标，仅在昨晚就用172架无人机、一枚伊斯坎德尔-M或北韩KN-23弹道导弹，以及一枚由S-300系统改装的导弹袭击了这类地面目标。
（图：一辆停在站台的乌克兰火车）
他们的目标显然是破坏从西部地区向驻扎在波克罗夫斯克的军队提供补给的乌克兰铁路物流部门，那里的乌军给俄罗斯军队造成严重的问题。
结果是，至少有26列客运列车中断，这些列车主要是在Pomichna-Kropyvnytskyj-Znamianka-Piatykhatky和Fundukliivka-Znamianka-Piatykhatky线路上运行，而在爆炸发生时，这些路线上行驶有20多辆载有平民的列车。乌克兰铁路公司（Ukrzaliznytsia）迅速部署了相同数量的备用机车来应对这一紧急情况，将这些车厢改道至替代路线。
抛开俄军所实施的攻击毫无意义不说，这些攻击极其精准，最终肆无忌惮地以乌克兰平民为目标，这种做法完全是基于一个明显的根本缺陷。
俄罗斯人继续以苏联的思维模式来解决问题，将大量的火力集中在那些不再具有可能与苏联时期和今天的俄罗斯联邦相同的价值的目标上。虽然俄军仍然严重依赖铁路运输，因为公路连接，仅举一例，罗斯托夫（Rostov-on-Don）和向顿巴斯前线提供补给的军事后勤中心之间的公路，可以说是糟糕透顶，如果不是完全无法通行的话，乌克兰却不一样，乌军可以依赖现代化、高速的欧洲公路网。
（图：我记录了这段在顿涅茨克（Donetsk）多布罗皮利亚（Dobropillia）拍摄的影片。版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
现在开车穿越整个国家，从利沃夫州（oblast）到顿涅茨克州只需十几个小时，而几年前则需要至少两倍的时间。正如我多次写到的，虽然一直受到外行和缺乏经验的观察家的不公平批评，但这一措施受到现任政府的强烈支持正在拯救前线的局势，从而拯救了国家。
如今，从利沃夫州到顿涅茨克州，开车穿越全国只需十几个小时，而几年前，至少需要两倍的时间。正如我多次写到的，尽管它一直受到外行和缺乏经验的观察家的不公平批评，得到了现任政府强烈支持的这项措施，正在拯救前线的局势，从而拯救了国家。
（图：即使进入实际上的战区，如照片中的顿涅茨克这州，乌克兰的道路状况仍然非常好????????-版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
泽连斯基始终明白，以欧洲的视角实现国家现代化，将是避免屈服于一个体量大数倍但落后并受上个世纪的思维束缚的敌人的关键。因此，他将各国（如日本）拨款的经济资金中的很大一部分，用于新铺设乌克兰的道路，这些资金用于为乌克兰提供民用和人道主义援助，而不是军事援助。
从这个角度来看，目前的俄罗斯联邦是一个泥足巨人，未能找到解决当前问题，如道路交通，的替代解决方案。但反过来时，当乌克兰针对俄罗斯铁路基础设施发动攻击时，就给俄方造成了严重的问题，使军事后勤瘫痪，有时还会因国际制裁使其难以获得一些关键技术部件而持续很长时间。因此，虽然乌克兰铁路系统正在逐渐与欧洲铁路系统融合，（注：自上周五开始，从乌日霍罗德（Uzhhorod）到布拉迪斯拉发、维也纳和布达佩斯的直达客运列车已经开始运行），仅有部分地向前线输送的武器由铁路运输完成，密集的现代公路网络是乌克兰铁路运输的代替方案。但俄罗斯铁路系统仍然是军事后勤的一个关键战略要素，没有可行的替代方案。
（图：一辆被俄罗军摧毁的民用巴士，位于从伊久姆到顿涅茨克州斯洛维扬斯克的路上????????）
昨天的轰炸证明了泽连斯基的战略已将结构性现代化转变为复原力的助推器；此外，正如从昨天的事件中看到的那样，在受到攻击的情况下，乌克兰铁路公司依然能够部署后备机车、重新安排车队和维持国际联网畅通；昨天的袭击事件还揭示了将大量火力集中在铁路基础设施上的苏联策略是一个严重的错误，铁路早已不再承担以前那种后勤服务功能。这种（苏联式的）策略却使像俄罗斯这样的巨人容易受到有针对性的打击，而欧洲一体化仍然是一种有效的战略优势。
（图：我在乌克兰顿巴斯的战区版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
