Ukraine Claims 'Honest' Belarusian Railway Workers Are Refusing To Transport Russian Forces

Ukraine's railway director has claimed that the rail traffic between Belarus and Ukraine does not exist anymore while thanking "Belarus' railway workers for what they are doing." His statement comes amid reports that Belarus forces may join Russian troops soon in its invasion of Ukraine.

"I recently appealed to Belarusian railway workers not to carry out criminal orders and not transport Russian military forces in the direction of Ukraine," Oleksandr Kamyshin, director of the Ukrzaliznytsya state railroad, told Current Time.

Though he did not clarify when the alleged interruption happened, Kamyshin confirmed that the movement of Russian military equipment by Belarus' railway network has stopped.

"I believe that there are still honest people among the Belarusians, and especially among the Belarusian railway workers. And I wouldn't want to set them up. I am grateful to them for what is happening today among the railway workers of Belarus, you see and hear the messages for sure, just like the whole country. And I am sure that honest people in this organization will be able to stop the work of Belarusian railways in the direction of transporting military trains towards Ukraine," he told the news outlet.

Though some local media outlets have confirmed the news, there are chances that this could be a piece of Ukrainian propaganda. Earlier, Ukraine's claim of destroying Russian warship Vasily Bykov using a missile was proven wrong after the ship was spotted off the Crimean coast a few days later.

According to the Ukrainian government, a huge portion of Russian military supplies was brought into Ukraine through the Homel-Kyiv rail line. Following this, Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Oleksiy Arestovych had urged civilians to conduct a "railway war" against Russia by destroying rail lines and equipment.

Kamyshin also praised Ukrainian railroad workers for helping to evacuate "60,000 people a day." "At its peak, it was 190 thousand people a day, that is, three times more. I am really proud and grateful to every railroad worker who does his job at his workplace every day, night, regardless of the work schedule, work schedule, day of the week, and everything else," he added.

Meanwhile, there are also reports of many Belarusian dissidents joining the protests against Russia. Most of them had already fled to nearby countries following a campaign of mass arrests and state-sponsored violence after Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko won a sixth term in office in 2020.