Railway workers in Ukraine continue their duties despite frequent Russian attacks on trains, with over 500 locomotives destroyed or damaged since February 2022. Natalia Kudrich, a railway steward from Kyiv who has worked through the war, exemplifies this resilience by stating, "We are made of iron." The Ukrainian Railways chief, Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, compares attacks on trains to terrorism and highlights the danger to civilians, noting that half of recent attacks occurred in 2023. Recent high-profile incidents, including a drone strike near the Polish border involving former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have drawn international attention to the risk faced by Ukrainian rail workers and passengers.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-21,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
The burnt train carriage on a city platform reminds thousands of workers of the risks they run on their journeys across Ukraine each day.
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they → burn → Ukraine
The carriage at the central station in Kyiv was part of a passenger train that was hit by a Russian drone in eastern Ukraine last year, killing six people.
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that → hit → people
Looking at the smashed windows and the blackened interior, many railway staff might think twice about their daily work.
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staff → look → work
But Natalia Kudrich, a railway steward, says she will not change careers.
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she → say → careers
“Why do we keep working?
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we → keep → ?
Because we are made of iron,” she says.
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she → make → iron
Kudrich, 40, comes from a family of rail workers in Lviv, in the far west of the country.
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Kudrich → come → country
She joined Ukrainian Railways when she was 19 and she has kept working throughout the war.
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she → join → war
That makes her just one example of the people who keep essential services running despite Russian attacks on civilians.
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who → make → civilians
The national rail service, Ukrzaliznytsia, is so vital to the country that its staff call themselves “iron people” – a play on words because the company’s name incorporates the word for iron.
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name → call → iron
The latest attacks have heightened anxiety about civilian deaths.
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attacks → heighten → deaths
A drone strike on a locomotive triggered global headlines last week because Russia attacked a civilian service only 2 kilometres from the Polish border when visitors, including former British prime minister Boris Johnson, were on a train nearby.
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visitors → trigger → train
The head of Ukrainian Railways, Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, says the attacks on trains should prompt the same outrage as a military strike on a civilian aircraft.
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attacks → say → aircraft
“If this happened to an aircraft somewhere in Europe, it would be on the front page of every newspaper.
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it → happen → newspaper
It is a very clear case of terrorism,” he tells this masthead in an interview in Kyiv.
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he → tell → Kyiv
“Unfortunately, it’s become normal here.
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it → become → ?
And it should not be happening.”
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it → happen → ?
Russian forces have destroyed or damaged more than 500 locomotives across Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
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invasion → destroy → Sybiha
Half of these attacks have occurred this year alone.
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Half → occur → attacks
The civilian casualties are mounting.
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casualties → mount → ?
A Russian drone hit a commuter passenger train near Kharkiv Oblast last Friday, killing a man and injuring seven other passengers, Ukrainian officials said.
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officials → hit → passengers
Two carriages were engulfed in flames, killing one man and wounding eight others.
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carriages → engulf → others
The Russian strike near the Polish border, on September 14, highlighted the risk to passengers as well as the Kremlin’s willingness to provoke Western countries.
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strike → highlight → countries
A jet-powered drone hit a Ukrainian Railways locomotive at Yahodyn station just after passengers had been evacuated from their carriages.
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passengers → power → carriages
One of the passengers was former CIA director David Petraeus, who was leaving Ukraine after speaking at the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv.
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who → leave → Kyiv
Videos posted to social media showed passengers running from the explosions and flames.
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passengers → post → explosions
A separate train had passed through the station shortly before the drone strike, carrying another group of conference speakers including Johnson.
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train → pass → Johnson
Pertsovskyi says this service was ahead of schedule.
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service → say → schedule
“Pretty much every international train at the moment carries ambassadors, business people, media.
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train → carry → ambassadors
Safety-wise, we are concerned for each and every one, so it’s not that we differentiate between those trains,” he says.
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he → concern → trains
“It just happened to be that one of them came earlier, others were still there, and the routing decision was made on the spot.
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decision → happen → spot
“Clearly, the Russians were aiming to hit very close to the EU and NATO border.
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Russians → aim → border
Clearly, they were doing it at the station where there’s a bunch of trains with international visitors of all ranks.
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they → do → ranks
Pertsovskyi, an economist, took on the chief executive position in August 2024 after running the passenger division for several years.
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Pertsovskyi → take → years
Educated in Kyiv, he did a masters degree at Brandeis University in the US before joining logistics giant DHL, where he worked for six years in the US and Singapore.
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he → educate → US
He returned to Ukraine in 2016.
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He → return → 2016
What does he need most right now?
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he → need → What
More locomotives, he says.
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he → say → locomotives
An Australian engine, however, would not work.
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engine → work → ?
The Ukrainian network, a legacy of the Soviet era, uses the 1520 millimetre broad gauge.
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network → use → gauge
…and 23 more, not listed.
The Aporia
