Ukraine withdrew more than 5,800 trains in September due to threats of Russian attacks against the railway, the national railway company said today, admitting a “creative effort” to minimize delays.
© Reproduction X/ Volodymyr Zelensky
05/10/2026
by
Lusa
Ukraine/Russia
“ ANDm september, a total of 5,831 trains were taken out of circulation due to security threats,” said the company’s press office, quoted by the French news agency AFP.
Russia has been targeting trains and stations throughout Ukraine since the first day of its large-scale invasion, started on February 24, 2022, destroying hundreds of locomotives and killing railways and passengers.
The Ukrainian railway company clarified that withdrawals occur mainly in regions near the front line, in the south and east of the country: Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhhia.
If a threat of Russian attack is detected, the train stops and passengers must leave the wagons and wait a certain distance until the danger passes.
The longest stop in September lasted six and a half hours, causing delays of up to 18 hours in the network, the railway company informed AFP.
In this context, “delays are inevitable,” the company considered, stressing that it must seek “creative solutions” to minimize them.
Since the suspension of air space due to war, the vast Ukrainian railway network has become essential for the transport of people and goods throughout the country, as well as for the entry and exit of Ukraine.
In September, a passenger train making the Kiev-Warsaw route was hit very close to the border with Poland, generating fears about the continuity of vital logistics lines between the capital and its Western partners.
Moscow has already admitted to targeting a route used to send weapons.