Ukraine: War Trains

Larisa Zinchenko has spent 36 years working on trains, 26 of them as a lead conductor. Since February 24, however, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zinchenko has stepped up her tasks to also become a rescuer, carer, counsellor and at times even a nanny. She is one of the many employees of Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine Railways, who have made long, dangerous journeys across the country to bring Ukrainians to safety.

Trains have been Ukraine’s lifeline and the 230,000 Ukrzaliznytsia employees have become national heroes. In the absence of air travel, thousands of wagons have rattled along Ukraine’s nearly 20,000 kilometres of tracks, evacuating an estimated four million people to safety in the west. More than a million of them are children, of whom about 600,000 have been taken abroad. The company has also evacuated 112,000 pets. 

Trains have continued running even to cities like Kharkiv, which is a mere 40 kilometres from the Russian border and has been under constant shelling for months. Although stations in areas under Russian occupation remain closed, Ukrzaliznytsia re-established connections with the liberated towns within days - at times within hours. 

Oleksandr Kamyshin, the company’s CEO, has been at the forefront of the work, crisscrossing the massive country to show support for the staff. His hashtag #KeepRunning has gained traction on social media as he documents every step the company takes, including resurrecting coal-powered locomotives when Russians shelled electricity plants. 

This has all come at a cost. As of October 2022, 263 railroad workers have died while doing their jobs.