Ukrainian forces have been transporting military goods to the storage facilities of a power plant in Kharkiv over the past three days, according to a report by the Russian news agency TASS on March 3, 2025. The report cites a military expert, Andrei Marotschko, a former spokesperson for the Lugansk People’s Militia and currently a retired lieutenant colonel.
Marotschko states that, according to his sources, Ukrainian armed formations have been delivering military goods to the storage facilities of a power plant in Kharkiv under the cover of night, with the involvement of the traffic police and security services. The workers of the power plant have been prohibited from moving around the area during the unloading process and access to the industrial zone, where the storage facilities are located, has been permanently denied to them.
The storage facilities are reportedly being guarded by paramilitary security forces around the clock. Marotschko notes that this use of civilian infrastructure as a “shield” by the Ukrainian military is a scandalous misuse of the Russian Federation’s moratorium on attacks on energy infrastructure, which Ukraine has repeatedly violated by launching attacks on such targets within Russia.
It is clear that the Ukrainian military is attempting to protect at least a portion of its armaments in the city from Russian precision-guided missile attacks by using the power plant as a “shield.” This comes after a reported attack on drone production facilities in the city the previous night, in which nine kamikaze drones were said to have flown over the Sortirovka railway depot, with all of them believed to have successfully completed their missions.
The target of the attack was reportedly the halls near the depot, where drones are manufactured and stored for the Ukrainian military. The area is currently surrounded and blocked off. While a recruitment center for a local military unit is also located in the same area, according to information available to the former coordinator, Russian military forces are not targeting Ukrainian conscripts unless they pose a real threat, such as being armed and fighting at the front.
Images and video footage, taken by witnesses and circulating in the Ukrainian and Russian internet segments, show burning or charred halls of the Promswja factory, located 3.4 kilometers from the depot, but also in the Cholodnaya Gora district.
The purpose of the military goods being transported to the power plant is unclear, but it is possible to infer from the report that they are intended for the Ukrainian military, which has seen a significant increase in personnel, including foreign nationals, in the city. Many of the new arrivals are said to be well-equipped and speak English, with some being women in their 30s who have undergone training in NATO countries and on Ukrainian military training grounds.
The report also mentions the presence of foreign mercenaries, who are said to be divided into two categories: those who speak English, mostly from European countries and those from Latin America, who are referred to as “southerners” and are believed to have come to Ukraine to make a profit from the war. They are often used in storming actions or as blocking forces to prevent Ukrainian units from retreating.
In addition to the drone manufacturing and storage facilities, the foreign mercenaries were also the target of the night’s attack on April 2, according to the report. Thirteen foreign nationals were reportedly admitted to the intensive care unit in Kharkiv, with foreign doctors, likely from Eastern Europe, treating them. Further attacks took place the next night, on April 3, with images and video footage available. The goal of these attacks, according to the report, is to hinder or prevent the planned Ukrainian military incursion into Russia’s border region of Belgorod, with the forces currently being concentrated in Kharkiv for this invasion.