In recent days, Russian drone attacks, many of them powered by jet engines, have ravaged Kyiv and its surroundings, causing the death of residents and damage to homes, food warehouses, and trains.
Russia has intensified its air attacks during this summer, taking advantage of the shortage of interceptors in Ukraine capable of shooting down ballistic missiles. However, the increasing use of waves of drones during the day has generated another type of disruption for Kyiv residents, paralyzing the metro and altering their daily routines.
And the Kremlin has also deliberately attacked the country’s railway network, with six employees killed on Tuesday in the latest bombings in Kyiv.
In Ukraine, few institutions have acquired the symbolic importance of the railway. Since the start of the large-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways) has been simultaneously a transport company, a military logistics network, an evacuation service, a diplomatic railway, a humanitarian organization, and one of the main arteries that keep the Ukrainian state united.
Ukrzaliznytsia reported that, only in the first quarter of 2026, Russia carried out 541 attacks against railway infrastructure and rolling stock, damaging 1,718 facilities and leaving 28 railway workers injured.
At the end of August, the country’s infrastructure authorities reported 1,534 attacks against the railway just during 2026. Over the course of the large-scale war, according to figures cited by Ukrainian authorities, 249 wagons and 492 locomotives were damaged and 52 railway employees lost their lives in the line of duty, stated the Lviv Herald portal.
Ukraine’s railway network is the third largest in Europe, with 24,000 kilometers of tracks. It has been vital for the country’s civilian population during the war, transporting four million people and approximately 120,000 pets. World leaders have traveled to Kyiv in its carriages.
In Tuesday’s attack, Ukrzaliznytsia reported that its workers died when a ballistic missile hit a locomotive depot. It added that the Russians attacked other railway facilities during a massive bombing over Kyiv and the region. At least 12 people died and a dozen were injured, including three children.
“A terribly difficult night for the entire railway family. Railway staff have been working on site since early morning. The attack has caused significant damage. Rescue teams are still extinguishing several fires,” said Oleksandr Pertsovsky, president of the train company.
The attack occurred hours before Ukrainian children began the new school year.
Serhii Leshchenko, a member of Ukrzaliznytsia’s supervisory board, described the railway as the “backbone of Ukraine’s economy.” It was the main logistical provider for the Army and the country’s industry, and transported 600,000 people each week, he told The Guardian. With 170,000 workers, it was also the largest company in Ukraine.
For these reasons, Russia was trying to destroy the railway tracks, he added. In the first year of the war, it attacked bridges, which could be easily replaced. Then, it bombed the tracks and electrical substations. Ukraine then began using diesel locomotives. This year, Russia began launching “direct attacks against civilian locomotives,” he said, an insidious tactic, at a time when Ukraine has a shortage of air defenses.
Several train drivers have died and several locomotives have been attacked inside depots. Leshchenko explained that if a Shahed drone approaches within 50 kilometers of a train, it must be evacuated and can only continue its journey once the threat has passed.
The Lviv Herald newspaper explained that Ukraine inherited from the Soviet Union a huge railway network built mainly for the transport of industrial goods and military formations across a continental territory. “In peacetime, this sometimes seemed cumbersome and outdated. In wartime, it became an extraordinary strategic asset,” the newspaper said.
Road transport is flexible but inefficient for moving large amounts of material. A freight train can carry amounts of ammunition, fuel, vehicles, engineering equipment, and heavy machinery that would require dozens or hundreds of trucks. Railways also allow troops to be transported quickly between distant sectors of a front that stretches over hundreds of kilometers, added Lviv Herald.
Ukraine’s railway also connects Ukraine with Europe. Weapons from Poland and other NATO countries must be directed eastward. Ukrainian exports must be directed westward or to Black Sea ports. Civilians must evacuate threatened cities. Soldiers travel on leave and return to their units. Government officials travel across the country by train.
“Therefore, the railway is not simply a part of Ukraine’s economy. It is part of the country’s strategic nervous system. The Russians understand this perfectly,” the newspaper said.
In this context, railway workers have gained remarkable experience in repairing damaged infrastructure, often restoring services with astonishing speed after attacks.
But the newspaper indicated that this has created the classic problem of interdiction warfare: destroying infrastructure is only useful if the enemy cannot repair it faster than it can be destroyed. Therefore, Russia seems increasingly interested in attacking what is harder to replace, it said.
For example, at the end of May 2026, Ukrzaliznytsia president Oleksandr Pertsovskyi stated that more than 100 diesel and electric locomotives had already been hit by the latest wave of attacks. The severity of the situation is considerable. Ukraine can repair a stretch of railway relatively quickly, but it cannot manufacture hundreds of replacement locomotives overnight.
Not all locomotives are interchangeable. The Ukrainian railway operates with different electrical systems, and diesel locomotives remain especially important when the power supply is interrupted or electrified infrastructure is damaged. Therefore, a campaign against locomotives attacks the railway’s resilience, more than its infrastructure, explained Lviv Herald.
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