Russia's 6-Gun Armored War Train Is Back in Eastern Ukraine. Could Ukraine Knock It Out?
Yes, with a single rocket launcher.
Russia’s war train Yenisei is back in action in Ukraine. It’s protected—but not safe.
New photos from Russian state media depict the armed, armored train reportedly somewhere along the Pokrovsk axis in eastern Ukraine.
Intelschizo narrowed down the likely location to “near Kurakhove, which is a single-track line to Donetsk.”
Long reliant on rails for rear-area logistics, the Russians have historically deployed armored trains not just to safeguard these supply lines, but also to position heavy firepower near the front line.
In 1920, the Red Army operated 103 howitzer-armed trains, together possessing 10% of the army’s long-range artillery. Today, the Russians operate no fewer than five armored trains: Amur, Baikal, Terek, Volga … and Yenisei.
They also welded armored plating onto at least one unnamed train and deployed it as a crude, railborne battlefield transport around Udachne, just west of Pokrovsk, this spring. A Ukrainian drone team spotted and attacked the train.
Nine cars, four guns and … a jammer?
Russia’s railway troops pieced together Yenisei in 2022, building it from locomotives and cars Russia stole from Ukraine. The main components, according to Intelschizo, are:
two CHME3-type locomotives;
two flatbed cars, each with a ZU-23-2 23-millimeter twin gun mount and an armored compartment with four gun ports;
another pair of flatbed cars, each car carrying a BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle armed with a 30-millimeter gun;
a pair of box cars for cargo and crew;
and a mystery car with an unidentified vehicle chained to it.
Russian magazine Komsomolskaya Pravda waxed lyrical about Yenisei shortly after Russian forces commissioned it—and may have identified the mystery vehicle in the middle of the train.
“There is insurance—this is a special installation on an armored train. It suppresses the signals of radio-controlled explosives.” In other words, the middle car might carry some kind of electronic warfare vehicle fitted with radio jammers meant to ground incoming drones.
To protect the train from sabotage, a reconnaissance and mine-clearing team travels ahead of it, according to Komsomolskaya Pravda. “Forward are the soldiers of the mine-clearing platoon. They are covered by fire from the parent platform.”
The soldiers “carefully inspect the fences. Visually study the bridge supports [to see] whether there are explosive devices.”
Yenisei travels slowly, giving the recon team ample time to clear the route. “It does not have the task to set speed records,” Komsomolskaya Pravda noted. “And in front of each bridge and overpass, it certainly makes the necessary stops.”
Even if the Russians protect Yenisei from drones and saboteurs, could the Ukrainians hit it? Say, with a ballistic or cruise missile? It is, after all, traveling within 100 miles of the front line—well within range of Ukraine’s deep-strike munitions.
Yes. “I mean, even just HIMARS or other [multiple-launch rocket system] will do the job,” Intelschizo mused.
Read more:
The Russian Army Rolled an Armored Assault Train Into Battle in Eastern Ukraine
Desperately low on armored vehicles and under increasing pressure in eastern Ukraine, Russian commanders have grown desperate. They’ve mobilized entire battalions of motorcycle troops. They’ve sent the walking wounded into battle on crutches. And now they’ve up-armored a train and deployed it as a crude, railborne battlefield transport.
Given their reliance on the rails, doesn’t it seem like every railroad bridge, even the minor ones should have been attacked by drones at this point?