Belarus Started Building a Railroad for Military Facilities Near the Borders of the Kyiv and Chernihiv Regions

Belarus is building railway infrastructure for military facilities on the border with Ukraine, specifically near the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions.

The opposition website Belarusian Railway Workers’ Community reported this.

The training ground is being built in a forested area of the Rechitsa District near the Yakimaŭka station. This is a Class V intermediate station on the Kalinkovichi–Gomel section of the Gomel Branch of the Belarusian Railways (NOD-4). From the Kalinkovichi side, the station is connected to the single-track Yakimaŭka–Seno Zavod section. On the Gomel side, there is a double-track section between Yakimaŭka and Pribor. The station’s track layout includes two main tracks and two siding tracks, as well as two low passenger platforms.

The railway portion has been designated as the third phase of construction. It includes the track, loading and unloading facilities, electrical centralization and communication systems, outdoor lighting, and other systems for servicing railcars on the testing ground.

The third phase covers the entire railway service scheme: connection to the existing station track, placement of railcars on the depot grounds, organization of shunting operations, communications, and loading and unloading operations. Once this work is complete, the depot will be able to receive railcars directly from the BZhD network as a separate freight terminal.

The Gomel-based publication Flagshtok previously reported on the construction site and work progress in January. It established that the training ground is being built near the Yakimaŭka station and confirmed that work had begun. In July, satellite images showed a clearing for the future railway branch line, and in August, selected pages of technical documentation were made public, confirming the facility’s location near the station.

Based on a report by Oleg Lugovskiy, Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on June 25 the completion of road infrastructure construction, as well as the construction of ammunition and fuel-lubricant storage facilities along the Ukrainian-Belarusian state border.

Earlier reports also point to the facility’s military purpose. The State Institution Capital Construction Directorate of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus is listed as the client for the 2023 engineering and topographic foundation. The current set of documents already specifies the State Unitary Enterprise Voenproekt Institute—the documents pertain to various stages of project preparation.

Once the railway section is operational, the training ground will become a reception point for military trains heading toward Ukraine. A 60-car track, its own loading and unloading area, communications, and a centralized route from the station will significantly expand the ability to deploy, supply, and rotate units. The infrastructure is suitable for transporting personnel, weapons and military equipment, fuel, ammunition, engineering supplies, and other cargo; however, the project does not specify the exact types of cargo to be transported in the future.

The actual intensity of operations will become apparent once the facility is put into service. This will be evidenced by the inclusion of Track No. 3a and new turnouts in the station’s operational documents, the launch of communication systems, the approval of local operating procedures, and the first actual train movements. For now, the documentation reveals only the planned capabilities. The scope of work and the range of technical equipment indicate that the facility is designed for long-term operation.

The dedicated railway infrastructure will connect several military facilities, including a training ground in the Gomel Region. The client is RUP Institute ‘Voenproekt’, and TransSoyuzProekt LLC developed the project documentation.

The railway also includes a logistics center on the territory of the former Krichev-6 airbase, a facility on the territory of the 1405th Artillery Ammunition Depot (military unit 42707) near the village of Velyka Horozha in the Osipovichi District, which is the home base of Oreshnik, dispatched by the 4th State Central Inter-Service Training Ground of the Russian Ministry of Defense, also known as the Kapustin Yar training ground, military unit 15644.

Beltrans, together with its subsidiary BTLS-Moscow and the Belarusian Ministry of Defense, provided logistical support for the Russian army’s deployment during the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.