The Russians are trying to find ways to hide their military supply transports from Ukrainian drone attacks.
After losing a significant amount of fuel in a recent attack, they are now focusing on camouflaging their freight trains, according to Digi24.
On December 14, Ukrainian forces blew up a train carrying 40 tankers of fuel in the city of Tokmak, which is currently occupied by Russian troops.
The explosion destroyed about 3,000 tons of fuel, disrupting the Russian supply chain for an extended period.
Following this, Russian forces began discussing new ways to camouflage their tankers. They have registered a patent for a solution where tankers could be disguised as regular freight cars.
The plan is to pull out a frame to cover the tanks, making them look like ordinary cargo trains.
The idea is that this disguise would confuse enemy intelligence and make it harder for Ukraine to target the trains.
However, experts are skeptical about the effectiveness of this solution. While this camouflage could work in busy areas where freight cars are common, the situation in the occupied areas of Ukraine is different.
The rail traffic in these regions is very low, and any train passing through is quickly noticed by Ukrainian forces.
Even trains carrying what seem like regular goods have been attacked before, especially if they are heading toward the front lines.
In practice, this camouflage idea may not be very useful. Ukrainian intelligence closely monitors all trains in the occupied territories, making it hard to hide military supply trains.
Furthermore, Ukraine has shown that it is capable of targeting trains and locomotives, as seen in previous drone attacks.
In fact, trains and even diesel locomotives were attacked in August 2024, regardless of the cargo they were carrying.
The mere fact that they were moving towards the front lines made them a target.
The proposed solution for disguising fuel tankers may not be the answer to Russia's supply chain problems.
While it sounds practical in theory, in real-world conditions, it faces many challenges.
