1006

Ukraine blows up main railway connection between Russia and China (www.politico.eu)

submitted 11 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

155 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Ukraine’s security service blew up a railway connection linking Russia to China, in a clandestine strike carried out deep into enemy territory, with pro-Kremlin media reporting that investigators have opened a criminal case into a “terrorist attack.”

The SBU set off several explosions inside the Severomuysky tunnel of the Baikal-Amur highway in Buryatia, located some 6,000 kilometers east of Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian official with direct knowledge of the operation told POLITICO.

“This is the only serious railway connection between the Russian Federation and China. And currently, this route, which Russia uses, including for military supplies, is paralyzed,” the official said.

Four explosive devices went off while a cargo train was moving inside the tunnel. “Now the (Russian) Federal Security Service is working on the spot, the railway workers are unsuccessfully trying to minimize the consequences of the SBU special operation,” the Ukrainian official added.

Ukraine’s security service has not publicly confirmed the attack. Russia has also so far not confirmed the sabotage.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] nicetriangle@kbin.social 31 points 11 months ago

I'm curious whether China will take this as a personal affront and feel the need to save face by escalating their participation. That would not be ideal.

[-] someguy3@lemmy.ca 36 points 11 months ago

China really has no reason to take this as an affront. China will continue milking Russia for money/oil and let them continue weaken themselves, but they have no reason to get involved or sell them weapons.

[-] Barbarian@sh.itjust.works 35 points 11 months ago

I'm no expert, please take this with a massive chunk of salt, but as far as I understand it China is trying to balance their relationship with Russia with their relationship with the US. I'd expect the reaction to a rail bombing like this to be muted and cautious.

[-] nicetriangle@kbin.social 20 points 11 months ago

Good point. It has seemed recently like they're trying to make nice with the US again all of a sudden. Some of their comments after visiting San Francisco were very out of step with their rhetoric up until recently. At least as far as what I have gathered from news articles. I don't really have a great grasp on the nuances of it myself. They're a difficult government to understand sometimes.

[-] Krackalot@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 11 months ago

I think their trying to get a pro China movement in the west. I also think it's working.

[-] Chocrates@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Eh I am neutral on China at first blush, which is actually pretty shitty when you think about their anti democratic actions and ethnic cleansing of Uyghurs

[-] jaybone@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

They are going to have a hard time recovering from their dot balloons and the shot they pull in Taiwan, at least as far as public opinion goes. But democrats seem to be offering them some kind of economic deals that they seem to be happy about. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

[-] cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 months ago

I think part of the problem is that US media generally accepts the US state department’s interpretation of Chinese foreign policy. That makes it difficult to interpret China’s aims since it’s buried under pro US bias.

Personally, I think the Chinese government appears relatively predictable if you can parse various global sources including the actual statements China publishes. Granted that’s a bit more difficult since it means accounting for all the biases of each source.

[-] echodot@feddit.uk 0 points 11 months ago

China and Russia share similar ideologies but that's about where the similarities ends.

China isn't insane and actually understands restraint unlike Russia they're not going to go charging into something without examining the consequences. China really doesn't want to get involved in this if they can help it, as I've looked at it and it's only downsized as far as they can see.

If Russia does attack NATO and NATO gets involved, and the Chinese still send them resources after that point, then it's possible NATO will consider China to be involved and therefore a legitimate target. This will mean that China will have to go toe-to-toe with the US military, and they really don't want to.

Of course all of those are big if's, and to be honest are very unlikely but it's not an impossibility and the risk they've decided isn't worth the very little reward.

[-] skozzii@lemmy.ca 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

China will just get to charge higher delivery fees with the planes, trucks and boats that will have to ship all the goods.

Good news for China, Russia need the stuff either way, it just gonna cost them more now and take longer to arrive.

[-] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Their reaction will depend on how this impacts their strategic use for Russia, which is soley as a source for raw materials (oil, minerals, etc.)

Selling goods into Russia, while critical for Russia, is barely a rounding error for China. The natural resources from Russia, however are critical inputs for the Chinese economy.

[-] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 2 points 11 months ago

It's interesting how the Russian government completely mismanaged even that little dependence. They could have more influence toward China.

Though if they were smart, eh, there are too many things to mention which they'd do differently. Something about invasions of generally friendly neighbors being stupid.

[-] Siegfried@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

I think China is more concerned about being included in the next set of sanctions. If this railroad was the only rail that connected China directly to Russia, then I expect the export of arms to slowdown a bit just for caution sake.

this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2023

1006 points (98.9% liked)

World News

38969 readers

2030 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed. Sources that have a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF 10/19
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.