Russia has intensified its attacks on trains; Ukrzaliznytsia is losing locomotives every month
Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s railway system, particularly passenger trains, using jet-powered drones. Ukraine’s railway network is critical to the economy, military logistics, and the transportation of people.
According to the publication, since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, Russian forces have damaged or destroyed more than 500 locomotives.
More than 60% of these losses have occurred in the last eight months.
Currently, as Politico notes, Ukrzaliznytsia is losing between 37 and 40 locomotives per month.
Politico notes that the Russian Ministry of Defense makes no secret of its attacks on the railway and describes them as part of a strategy to destroy Ukrainian logistics, which is used, in particular, to transport foreign weapons.
At the same time, Ukraine believes that the Russian campaign has a much broader objective.
“The Russians are seeking to isolate our frontline communities, sow panic and fear among the already exhausted local residents, and paralyze the economy,” said Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, chairman of the board of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia.”
According to Pertsovskyi, Russia began actively attacking passenger trains in the fall of 2025, when it received antennas for mesh networks.
This technology allows drones to transmit signals to one another or connect to ground-based transmitters in Belarus or in the occupied territory of Ukraine. As a result, operators can control drones in real time even in the face of electronic warfare and attack moving targets, including trains.
“Last fall, they struck a train near Lozova, a city in the Kharkiv region, killing six people. Since then, we’ve implemented evacuation protocols. We’ve been able to save most people, but the Russians continue to destroy our locomotives,” said Pertsovskyi.
According to Politico, most attacks on the Ukrainian railway occur within 200 kilometers of the front line, primarily in the east and south of the country.
However, Russia has recently expanded both the geographic scope of its attacks and the list of potential targets.
“Now the Russians are using antennas and repeaters in Belarus to strike western regions of Ukraine as well,” noted Oleksandr Pertsovskyi.
The journalists also mentioned an attack that occurred near the Polish border. A Russian drone struck one of the trains shortly after another train carrying European security advisers and former leaders departed from the same station. Among them was former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
At the time of the attack, the diplomats had already crossed the border into Poland. Meanwhile, Ukrzaliznytsia stated that the drone’s target was likely the diplomatic train, which had departed earlier than scheduled.
“The recent strikes near the Polish border indicate that their additional goal is to increase the risks for our foreign guests, partners, diplomats, politicians, and journalists... The Russians want them to be afraid to travel to Ukraine as well, because the fact that, despite all attempts to isolate Ukraine, we remain open and interesting to the world greatly irritates the Russians,” said Pertsovsky.
Yulia Chikolba, director of the Center for Information Resilience in Ukraine, was traveling from Kyiv to Chełm, Poland, on a different train on the day of the attack.
“We were seven hours late. We had to evacuate twice because of that drone near the border,” Chikolba said.
According to her, the evacuation was very well organized. Railroad employees instructed passengers to leave the cars and spread out as far away from the train as possible.
“And then we saw the drone approaching. It was the same one that later struck the train closer to the border. It was still scary.”
Ukraine needs significant financial resources to restore its locomotive fleet. A new locomotive costs about 5 million euros.
“Repairing locomotives is a key priority: spare parts, materials, and personnel who can carry out repairs around the clock. We have reliable partners who are helping us with this, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank, but the rate of damage is so high that our financial resources are insufficient,” said Oleksandr Pertsovskyi.
At the same time, the problem is not just about money. Ukrainian Railways uses a track gauge of 1,520 millimeters, while in most European countries the standard is 1,435 millimeters.
This limits the number of rolling stock that international partners can quickly transfer to Ukraine.
As the publication notes, the Baltic states and Finland use a similar railway infrastructure. Lithuania has promised to transfer locomotives to Ukraine as part of a winter aid package.
According to Pertsovsky, Ukraine is also working with other partners to secure additional aid for the railway.
Despite the scale of Russian attacks, Ukrzaliznytsia is modeling various scenarios to continue operations and ensure transportation.
“We have various operational plans to ensure a balance between safety, but we certainly are not considering a scenario in which we would stop operations. Just as our country is not considering the possibility of ceasing the fight, the railway, naturally, is not considering the possibility of ceasing its operations,” said Pertsovskyi.
Ukrzaliznytsia continues to provide passenger and freight transportation despite regular Russian strikes on the railway infrastructure. JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” also continues to procure the necessary materials and spare parts to maintain its rolling stock and infrastructure.
This is reported in an article by Politico.
On the night of September 17, Ukrzaliznytsia suspended train service 111 times due to drone threats. Currently, some trains are experiencing delays.
Ukrzaliznytsia is launching a new electric train equipped with Wi-Fi and air conditioning.
Ukrzaliznytsia warned of significant train delays due to attacks by the Russian Federation.
Due to scheduled maintenance work from September 7 to 12, several commuter trains operated on a modified schedule.
