Russia targets Ukraine's critical rail network with ‘systematic’ attacks

Trains have been a lifeline for people in country where civilian flights are grounded

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damaged during a Russian drone strike at a railway station in the town of Lozova, in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, on Aug 5. Since the middle of summer, Russia has attacked railway infrastructure nodes with an average of six to seven drones most nights, the chief executive of Ukraine's state railway company said. PHOTO: REUTERS

(REUTERS)

Russia has unleashed a massive wave of attacks on Ukraine’s railways since the summer, using new tactics to hit key nodes with long-range drones, but the network is holding up for now, the chief executive of the state railway company told Reuters.

“Their first aim is to sow panic among passengers, their second aim is to hit the overall economy,” Mr Oleksandr Pertsovskyi said in an interview held in a rail carriage at Kyiv’s central station.

There did not appear to be a particular focus on targeting military cargo. “These are all, in essence, strikes on civilian infrastructure,” he said.

Ukrzaliznytsia, the vast state-owned railway company, employs 170,000 people and has been the target of Russian attacks since the start of Russia’s invasion 31/2 years ago, but attacks have intensified, causing regular delays.