In recent months, Russia has been deliberately striking Ukrainian trains and, according to Politico, has been disabling 37–40 locomotives per month. Since the start of the invasion, strikes have hit more than 500 locomotives, and the railway remains the main way to supply the army and transport people and cargo under closed airspace conditions.
According to Politico, more than 60% of the damaged locomotives were hit in the last eight months. Most attacks take place within 200 km of the front line or the border with Russia, primarily in eastern and southern Ukraine, but the strike zone is expanding.
The chairman of the board of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia, Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, told Politico that relays in Belarus have begun to be used for the attacks, and this makes it possible to strike western regions as well. This scheme gives operators the ability to control drones in real time despite electronic warfare measures.
In recent days, attacks have also been recorded near the border with Poland: a drone hit the locomotive of the Kyiv–Warsaw train at Yahodyn station in Volyn Oblast. This happened shortly after another train carrying Western consultants, officials, and former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson crossed the border.
Ukrzaliznytsia reported that former CIA Director David Petraeus was on another train that was at Yahodyn station at the time of the attack. According to Pertsovskyi, repairing locomotives remains the company’s top priority.
He said that Ukrzaliznytsia relies on support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank, but the pace of destruction is too high for the company’s own funds to be enough. A new locomotive costs about 5 million euros, and rapid replacement is also hindered by the different railway gauge: Ukraine’s differs from Europe’s.
The same gauge exists only in the Baltic states and Finland, which limits the ability to quickly supply rolling stock. Lithuania has promised to help Ukraine with locomotives this coming winter.
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