Passengers on the Dnipro — Chełm train endured freezing conditions for over 3 hours due to cigarette smuggling
On the Dnipro — Chełm route, passengers were forced to stay for more than three hours in a carriage with only a toilet, while outside temperatures were around -11°C near the Polish border. Neither Polish border officials nor Ukrzaliznytsia provided any information, leaving especially children exposed to the cold during the night without warmth.
The cause of the delay was linked to smuggling: Polish customs officers found 150 cartons of cigarettes among Ukrzaliznytsia staff. As a result of investigations, the train was held for over three hours, causing many passengers to miss their connecting trains to Warsaw. The situation was further complicated by the lack of a proper train station in Chełm due to renovations, forcing people, including children, to wait outside in freezing temperatures.
This incident raises serious concerns about passenger transport management and communication in emergencies, particularly at international borders where delays can endanger not only comfort but also the safety of travelers.
Over the last two years (2024–early 2026), Ukraine’s migration picture has stayed structurally stressed: millions of people remain displaced abroad as refugees and inside the country as IDPs, with movements rising and falling in response to security shocks, housing destruction, and economic pressure. UNHCR reporting continues to describe displacement at a multi-million scale, while IOM tracking shows both sustained internal displacement and a significant population of returnees—often to areas that are “safe enough” rather than fully stable, making returns fragile and sometimes reversible.
The core policy problem now is duration and status: in the EU, millions of Ukrainians are covered by Temporary Protection (with Germany, Poland, and Czechia hosting the largest totals), but governments are increasingly focused on what comes next—extension, pathways into regular residence/work/student permits, and voluntary return support. In 2025, the European Commission proposed extending Temporary Protection to March 2027, aiming to provide legal certainty without overloading asylum systems—helpful for planning, but also a signal that displacement is becoming long-term. Alongside this, Ukraine’s wartime exit rules (and targeted relaxations for certain age groups reported in 2025) shape who can leave, who stays, and the longer-run demographic and labor-market impacts.
