KRAMATORSK/POKROVSK The explosions ripped through the air at half past eleven in the morning. The railway station was full of people, after all, the evacuation train was about to leave.
It was the 8th of April. The suburbs of Kyiv had just been liberated, but the war of aggression in eastern Ukraine continued mercilessly. People are trying to leave Kramatorsk for safety in the western parts of the country.
That Friday, 60 people were killed in a rocket attack on the Kramatorsk station. It is still one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the war.
Attacks on railways and stations have been in Russia’s playbook since the beginning of the attack. Railroads, like power plants, are critical infrastructure that it wants to destroy. From Russia’s point of view, it is particularly essential that Western arms aid goes to Ukraine along the tracks.
During the fall, Russia has suffered significant losses on the battlefields, and has increasingly turned to other forms of warfare. According to Ukraine, Russia has destroyed 40 percent of the country’s energy infrastructure.
Predictions about the next twist in the attack are running hot. It is feared that Russia will blow up the Kahovka dam in the Kherson region or damage the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The goal is to paralyze Ukraine in one way or another before winter comes.
Ukraine is a country almost twice the size of Finland, and it must be able to move goods and people to different parts of the country. When Russia invaded, Ukrainian airspace was closed to civilian traffic. The only option is to move by land.
At the same time, work on the railways has become dangerous. According to Ukrainian Railways more than 250 employees have died (you switch to another service) during the war of aggression.
Still, passenger trains run – often almost to the minute on schedule.
A waiter on a passenger train delivers hot ready meals to the seats. The train has left early in the morning from Kiev towards Kramatorsk. It is mid-October, and the connection to the city has been reopened a few days earlier, even though the eastern front runs only a good 30 kilometers from Kramatorsk.
The atmosphere is like any other train on a quiet weekday: behind the window a gray field landscape rustles by, the conductor checks tickets on the phones, the cart vendor dispenses coffee into cardboard cups. As if on the way from Tampere to Oulu.
It’s only when you listen to the quiet murmur of voices that you realize that this is not just any route. Many are on their way home without knowing what awaits them at home.
Olena Ivchenko and the home of his two daughters is located very close to the city of Bahmut, which Russia is currently attacking. The family has been in an evacuation center in the Kyiv region. Now that the train is running again, Ivchenko decided to take the children home for the first time since the beginning of the great offensive.
It has been a matter of honor for the Ukrainian railways to keep the trains running throughout the war. In many ways, it is also about life and death: saving lives, waging war, diplomacy and transporting food.
The fact that the train goes to Kramatorsk again is a big deal, both symbolically and in the passengers’ everyday life. Many left Eastern Ukraine in the spring and have not been able to return since then. Even a journey of more than a thousand kilometers could only be made by car.
Driving in the midst of war has its own difficulties. Where there has been fighting, the roads are in very bad condition in some places. The price of gasoline has risen, and fuel was also rationed in the summer. And not everyone even has their own car.
Ukrainian Railways leads 38 years old Oleksandr Kamyshin. Kamyšin is a one-man media agency: an active tweeter and train passenger who reports from the tracks and chats in English with his followers.
He often tags his posts with #keeprunning. It could be translated into Finnish, for example, in #pysymmeliikkea.
The message to the Russians is clear: even if you bomb and destroy, we will not bend.
When the Russians bomb our energy infrastructure, we switch to diesel locomotives and #keepmoving. We always have a “plan b”. Today I checked “plan b” for diesel locomotives – steam locomotives, Kamyšin tweeted at the beginning of November.
Since there have been no flights to Ukraine since February, almost all visiting heads of state have also traveled to the country by train. The most reliable route runs from the Polish border via Lviv to Kyiv.
In May, the Prime Minister of Finland also arrived in Kyiv by train Sanna Marin.
Ukrainian Railways reported on the Prime Minister’s journey after Marin had safely crossed the Ukrainian border.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin traveled to Ukraine on our train and visited the liberated towns of Irpin and Butša, where she saw traces of Russian atrocities. We thank Finland for the support. I hope you will join NATO as soon as possible, the official account of the Ukrainian Railways UkrZaliznytsia tweeted.
According to the Ukrainian Railways, a total of a couple of hundred delegations have made a train trip to Ukraine during the attack. Among others, the US Secretary of State has taken the train from Poland to Kiev Antony BlinkenChancellor of Germany Olaf Scholzformer British Prime Minister Boris JohnsonPresident of France Emmanuel Macron and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
The head of railways, Oleksandr Kamyšin, has his own Twitter handle for this too: #irondiplomacy, loosely translated as “iron diplomacy”.
Some of the leading politicians have traveled in a special carriage originally designed for rich tourists. Instead, rank-and-file politicians have also boarded ordinary passenger trains.
Member of Parliament of the Coalition Saara-Sofia Sirén told about his train journey like this:
Often the trips are made secretly, and for security reasons they are only announced afterwards. However, many politicians are pretended to tweet (you will switch to another service) in the middle of your trip or even in advance. This was done, among others, by von der Leyen (you switch to another service)when he traveled to Ukraine on the day of the Kramatrosk station attack.
One of the most important of trains tasks are to transport Ukrainians to safety. A total of four million people have been moved away from the feet of the war by rail. According to Ukrainian Railways, one million of them have been children, and 120,000 pets have traveled with them.
Near Kramatorsk, Pokrovsky station leaves every day a free train to the western parts of the country to Lviv. Recently, fewer people have boarded, but the carriages still have a tight atmosphere. Many stare out the window or sleep.
At exactly 4:30 p.m., the blue passenger train will now depart. With its rattling carriages, it resembles the old high-speed trains of VR.
A moment earlier, the aid organization’s train, which is used to transport the sick and injured, has left the station. Humanitarian aid, medicines and supplies also travel on the tracks.
What are we running away from right now? One place name, Bahmut, is repeated in the train. Passengers tell of destroyed houses, hiding in basements and constant terror. Lilija Hebešin the house burned when it was hit.
– Everything went. I don’t even have identity papers, he says.
Without trains Ukraine wouldn’t do. The tracks are a lifeline, which is protected until the end. After the summer, the fighting has been concentrated in eastern and western Ukraine, and it would be difficult to maintain the troops fighting there without tracks.
More grain is also transported by rail than before. Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain producers, and due to Russia’s sea blockade, the crop is now exported by train.
For many railway workers, the central role of trains has meant terrifying journeys towards the front, in the line of fire of an invading Russia.
February 24 conductor Jan Barmak woke up to a phone call. He immediately took a train east towards Kharkiv to evacuate the Ukrainians to safety. During the evacuation journeys, the 560-passenger train could accommodate 3,000 people. The children traveled on the shelves, Barmak says.
Now Barmak is working on a train going to Kramatorsk. The restored train connection is a small victory, but the fear and distress will not be forgotten. Barmak has time to wipe the tears before taking the picture.
The trains are full sadness but also the cautious joy of returning home. Ljudmyla, who is traveling with her husband, has heard that the homestead in Kramatorski is still standing. The garden has not been taken care of for the summer, but he hopes to be able to take care of his plants again soon.
Maybe it’s time for that next spring, he thinks.
Now we live one day at a time, “waiting for victory”, as Ljudmyla smiles.
The #keepmoving mentality is strong among Ukrainians. Even if Russia invades, people go on with their lives. When Russia destroys, Ukraine repairs. Although rockets are raining from the sky, the trains are running.
Railway director Oleksandr Kamyšin continues to work hard on Twitter. He communicates about Ukraine’s success, railway diplomacy and tells about his travels on the tracks – it is important propaganda for a country fighting a defensive war.
In the midst of war, communication also relies on the power of humor. When Sanna Marini’s dance video spread to the world, Kamyšin shared a tweet about it (you’ll go to another service) with accompanying words:
“Nice PM, nice party. I don’t see anything wrong with celebrating like that. PS I have to check the train cameras from the time he traveled to Kiev :)”
You can discuss the topic until Sunday 13.11 at 23:00.
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