A railway line Russia is building through occupied Ukraine is almost complete and could pose a “serious problem” for Kyiv, Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, has warned.

“Russia has actually been building a railway for over a year now to connect with our temporarily occupied southern territories. This process is almost complete, and it could pose a serious problem for us,” Mr Budanov told Ukrainian national television.

Moscow’s railroad connects Russia’s port city Rostov-on-Don and Crimea - its key logistical hub in southern Ukraine - as an alternative to the Crimean Bridge, running via key occupied territories such as Donetsk, Mariupol and Berdyansk. Vladimir Putin announced at a rally after his sham election victory last month that construction of the railroad segment between Rostov-on-Don and Berdiansk was complete.

Andrii Yusov, a Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman, said last month that Moscow is “trying to strengthen the railroad connection” due to frequent Ukrainian attacks on the Crimean bridge, adding that it is Kyiv’s “mission” to prevent Russia from completing the railway’s construction. 

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