Rail sabotage Rail sabotage (colloquially known as wrecking) is the act of disrupting a rail transport network. This includes both acts designed only to hinder or delay as well as acts designed to actually destroy a train. Sabotage must be distinguished from m ...

is one of the Belarusian forms of grassroots action opposing the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. At the end of February 2022, the first reports appeared in the media about sabotage on Belarusian railways in order to disable manpower,

signalling control On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetabl ...

equipment, and the transport of military materiel by rail for military operations on the territory of Ukraine.

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Signalling equipment was destroyed in three regions of Belarus, and railway lines were blocked. As a result of these operations, the work of several branches of the Belarusian railway was disrupted, particularly in the south of Belarus. There have been some 80 acts of sabotage on Belarusian railways as of 12 April, based on data from the Belarusian Interior Ministry. The most common form of damage is setting fire to the signalling equipment. This disrupts the lights on the railway system, forcing trains to slow to . A married couple set fire to the logs of military equipment kept by the railways. Other acts of sabotage have involved the railway's workers themselves as well as hackers attacking the railway's computer system. The Deputy Interior Minister threatened to kill the partisans in a statement in early March. Shots were fired at people attempting to set fire to a signal box in late March. In late April, the lower house of Parliament passed a law to apply the death penalty for sabotage. The opposition's actions assisted Ukrainian forces in defeating the Russian offensive which aimed to conquer

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

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* Sly, Li
''The Belarusian railway workers who helped thwart Russia’s attack on Kyiv''
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The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' (April 23, 2022) {{Belarusian opposition Belarus in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Protests in Belarus Resistance movements Opposition to Vladimir Putin 2022 in Belarus Acts of sabotage Rail transport in Belarus Resistance during the Russian invasion of Ukraine Spillover of the Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 crimes in Belarus Railway accidents in 2022 Railway accidents and incidents in Belarus

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