Ukraine has been experiencing an intensification of attacks on its railway network in recent months. Since July alone, the number of attacks has tripled and, since the beginning of the year, they have already caused losses in the order of a billion dollars, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba, responsible for Infrastructure. At issue is not only the intention to destroy the country’s logistical capacity, but also to make the circulation of military material impossible.
“If we compare just the last three months, attacks have tripled,” said Kuleba. “Since the beginning of the year, there have been 800 attacks on rail infrastructure and more than 3,000 rail facilities have been damaged. What we have observed in these increasing attacks is that they target, above all, trains, specifically trying to kill train drivers,” stated the government official, quoted by The Guardian.
The railway is crucial to the functioning of a country the size of Ukraine. The rail network carries more than 63% of the country’s freight – including grain shipments – and 37% of passenger traffic, according to the state statistics service. And, a very important detail, it is also by rail that military aid from foreign countries usually arrives.
No civilian airports have been operational since the large-scale invasion of Russia, so most people travel in and out of the country – including visiting world leaders – by train.
“It’s not just about the quantity [de ataques]but also from approaching enemy forces,” said Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, head of the Ukrainian state railway, Ukrzaliznytsia. “Now, because they have very precise Shahed drones, they are targeting specific locomotives.” Nonetheless some measures were taken to better protect the network, such as, for example, equipping trains with electronic systems to neutralize drone attacks and forming teams dedicated to air defense among railway employees.
Earlier this year, the main station building in Lozova in the Kharkiv region was one of the huge ones that was seriously damaged in a drone attack. Other attacks damaged the rails. Despite the attacks, passengers continue to queue to buy tickets and board trains bound for the entire country, reports the The Guardian.