Russia hunts Ukraine’s trains

Por Veronika Melkozerova — War in Ukraine – POLITICO

KYIV — Russia is increasingly targeting Ukrainian passenger trains with jet-powered drones, threatening a rail network crucial to the country’s economy, military logistics and movement of people.

Moscow’s strikes have damaged or destroyed more than 500 locomotives since the full-scale invasion began in 2022; more than 60% of them have been hit in the past eight months. Ukrainian Railways is now losing 37 to 40 locomotives a month.

Russia’s defense ministry has acknowledged it is striking trains, describing the attacks as part of a strategy to destroy Ukrainian logistics used to transport foreign weapons for Kyiv’s war effort.

Ukrainian officials say the campaign has a broader purpose. “Russians aim to isolate our frontline communities, sow panic and fear among the already exhausted locals, paralyze the economy,” Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, chairman of the management board at JSC Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine’s state railway operator, said.

Moving targets

Russia began hunting passenger trains last fall after obtaining mesh network antennas, Pertsovskyi said. The technology allows drones to relay signals to one another or connect to ground-based transmitters in Belarus or occupied Ukraine, enabling operators to control them in real time despite electronic warfare measures and hit moving targets such as trains.

“Last fall they hit a train next to Lozova, a town in Kharkiv region, killing six. Since then, we launched evacuation protocols. We’re saving most of the people, but Russians keep destroying our locomotives,” he said.

Russia primarily uses jet-powered drones against trains — a threat Ukraine has not yet been able to fully counter. While Ukraine’s defense ministry is working on a solution with counter-drone producers, Ukrzaliznytsia is developing an integrated transport model that would allow operators to move passengers by bus when trains are stopped or hit.

Although most attacks occur within 200 kilometers of the contact line with Russian forces or Russia’s border, affecting regions in the east and south of Ukraine, Moscow has recently expanded both their geographic reach and apparent targets.

“Now Russians are using antennas and repeaters in Belarus to strike Ukraine’s western regions too,” Pertsovskyi said.

That expansion was evident last weekend near the Polish border, where a Russian drone hit one train shortly after another carrying European security advisers and former leaders — including former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson — left the same station.

Although the diplomats had crossed into Poland by the time of the attack, Ukrzaliznytsia said it was highly likely that the drone’s intended target was the diplomatic train, which had left earlier than scheduled.

“The latest strikes near the Polish border show that their additional goal is to increase risks for our foreign guests, partners, diplomats, politicians and reporters … Russians want them also to be scared to travel to Ukraine, because the fact that after all the attempts to isolate Ukraine we are still open and interesting for the world pisses Russians off,” Pertsovskyi said.

Yulia Chykolba, Ukraine director for the Centre for Information Resilience, was traveling from Kyiv to Chełm, Poland, on a different train on the day of the strike.

“We were seven hours late. We had to evacuate twice because of that drone near the border,” Chykolba said.

She said the evacuation was highly organized: Staff ordered passengers to leave the carriages and disperse as far away from the train as possible. “And then we saw the drone approaching. The same one that later struck a train closer to the border. It was still scary,” Chykolba said.

The delay caused Chykolba to miss her flight. She eventually reached her final destination, the Netherlands, about 12 hours later than planned.

The replacement gap

Ukraine needs money for repairs and compatible replacement locomotives and parts. Each new locomotive costs about €5 million.

“Locomotive repair is a key priority: spare parts, materials, and the personnel to carry out repairs around the clock. We have reliable partners helping us with this, such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank, but the pace of destruction is so fast that our financial resources are insufficient,” Pertsovskyi said.

But money alone will not solve the problem. Ukrzaliznytsia uses a 1,520-millimeter track gauge, rather than the 1,435-millimeter standard used across most of Europe, limiting the pool of rolling stock that partners can quickly transfer.

Only the Baltic states and Finland use similar equipment. Lithuania has pledged to send locomotives to Ukraine as part of its winter support package. Ukraine is working with other partners to get more railway aid, Pertsovskyi said.

Meanwhile, Ukrzaliznytsia is modeling for every possible scenario.

“We have various operational plans to balance safety, but we are certainly not considering a scenario where we stop. Just as our country does not contemplate giving up the fight, the railway, naturally, does not contemplate halting its operations,” Pertsovskyi said.

Fonte: War in Ukraine – POLITICO