Ukraine's rail network is under growing pressure as a surge of Russian drone strikes forces widespread evacuations and delays. Ukrzaliznytsia reports 5,831 train evacuations in September and that nearly 60% of locomotive hits since 2022 occurred in 2026. Officials warn the attacks are more precise, possibly aided by AI and mesh networks; the railway is deploying electronic countermeasures and preparing winter shelters to protect passengers and staff.
Ukraine's Trains Under Threat: Escalating Russian Drone Campaign Disrupts Travel Nationwide
Russian drones started to attack Ukrainian passenger trains at the end of last year [EPA/Shutterstock]
Ukraine's railway network, a crucial lifeline since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, is facing a new and intensified threat as Russian drones increasingly target locomotives, depots and rail infrastructure. The result: frequent evacuations, long delays and mounting concerns for passenger safety as operators scramble to protect staff and travellers.
Passengers Describe Panic And Long Delays
Yuliia Ponomarenko, 27, a marketing specialist from Kharkiv, recalls her journey to Warsaw being halted just short of the Poland border. 'The border guards started running around and shouting 'Run! Get out of the carriages! There's shelling!'' she said. A drone had struck a locomotive nearby; a special train carrying former British prime minister Boris Johnson and other dignitaries had passed the same stretch only minutes earlier.
Passengers are routinely evacuated from trains and forced to wait on the trackside until the danger has passed [AFP via Getty Images]
Ponomarenko and other passengers were held for six hours while crews put out the fire and cleared the line. 'We were really lucky that we were delayed a little and it wasn't our train,' she added. Air-raid alerts and emergency evacuations are now common far from the eastern frontlines.
Numbers And The Growing Toll
State operator Ukrzaliznytsia told AFP that in September alone 5,831 trains were evacuated because of drone threats — an average of about 205 trains stopped each day. The company reports that of the 521 locomotives struck since the start of the full-scale invasion, almost 60% were hit this year (2026). Attacks on railway facilities rose from 1,206 in 2025 to 1,700 so far this year. Company figures for 2026 show eight employees killed; six died when a ballistic missile struck a Kyiv locomotive depot.
Confronting Russia's threat of Ukraine's railways is a game of cat and mouse, says Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, CEO of Ukrzaliznytsia [BBC]
Firsthand Escapes
Seventeen-year-old Anastasiia Ryvbalchenko described being ordered off her night train from Odesa to Kirovohrad around 4am on 16 September. After waiting in the dark for an hour and a half, a drone exploded nearby. 'There was an extremely loud explosion and everyone started running into the woods,' she recalled. While that train was not damaged, Anastasiia walked part of the route before being collected by her parents and says she will not travel by train again.
How The Railways Respond
Ukrzaliznytsia has adapted its operations to prioritise life and safety over punctuality. At an underground operations hub known as the 'Iron Command Centre', staff monitor the network in real time. Operators assign a 100 km (62-mile) safety radius around each detected drone; any passenger train inside that circle is evacuated and cannot reboard until the drone has moved away and the train is clear of the danger zone.
Some train stoppages can last hours, causing chaos for passengers across Ukraine's rail networks [Reuters]
'The life of our passengers and crew members is the utmost priority,' said Ukrzaliznytsia chief Oleksandr Pertsovskyi. 'This is becoming an extremely intense wave of escalation.'
Increasing Sophistication And Countermeasures
Pertsovskyi and company statistics warn that recent strikes are growing more precise. The operator says some drones use cameras, mesh networks and even AI-based image recognition to acquire moving targets. Russia's defence ministry denies deliberately targeting civilians, saying attacks aim at infrastructure used to transport military personnel and equipment.
Ukraine is deploying electronic countermeasures and other tools to disrupt drone connectivity, but officials caution it remains a 'cat-and-mouse' challenge as attackers adapt.
Preparing For Winter
With winter approaching, Ukrzaliznytsia and international partners are preparing winter evacuation packs, mobile shelters and bus services for routes where evacuations become frequent and temperatures can fall below -20C. The company says it may become a 'reinvented' railway but pledges to keep connecting communities across Ukraine despite the attacks.
Extra reporting by Anastasiia Levchenko.
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