Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian passenger trains began at the end of 2025 and have intensified sharply in 2026. Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine’s state railway operator, reported that more than half of the 521 locomotives targeted by Russian strikes since the 2022 full-scale invasion were hit in 2026. The number of overall attacks on railway facilities increased from 1,206 in 2025 to 1,700 so far this year, with September alone seeing the evacuation of 5,831 trains.
Daily operations face significant disruption, with an average of 205 passenger trains stopped each day in September 2026 due to drone threats. Passengers are routinely evacuated
during these incidents, sometimes waiting trackside for hours in darkness. Yuliia Ponomarenko, a marketing specialist from Kharkiv, experienced a six-hour delay near the Ukraine-Poland border in September when a drone struck a locomotive. She said, “We were really lucky that we were delayed a little and it wasn’t our train.” Seventeen-year-old Anastasiia Ryvbalchenko recalled being evacuated at 4 a.m. on September 16 during a journey from Odesa to Kirovohrad, when a nearby drone exploded, forcing passengers to flee into nearby woods.
Ukrzaliznytsia’s Operational Response to Drone Threats
Ukrzaliznytsia manages drone threats from an underground bunker in Kyiv known as the Iron Command Centre. Railway staff monitor
real-time threats on a large screen displaying color-coded trains and drone locations. Each drone is assigned a 100 km radius attack circle. Trains within this area are immediately evacuated, and passengers cannot reboard until the threat subsides and trains exit the danger zone. CEO Oleksandr Pertsovskyi described the system as essential to protecting passengers and crew, stating, “Our mission is not to let our train or our crew members be in that immediate attack area.” Train stoppages caused by drone attacks can last hours, severely affecting Ukraine’s rail network.
Official Statements and Drone Attack Technology
Oleksandr Pertsovskyi characterized the escalation of drone attacks as “extremely intense,”
noting Russia’s use of shahed drones armed with cameras, mesh networks, artificial intelligence, and image recognition technology to strike moving targets with precision. He acknowledged the ongoing “cat-and-mouse game” in confronting these threats. The Russian Defence Ministry denies targeting civilians and states that its attacks focus on military logistics infrastructure. Since the invasion started in 2022, eight Ukrzaliznytsia employees have died due to attacks, including six killed in a ballistic missile strike on a Kyiv locomotive depot.
Passenger Safety Challenges Ahead for Winter
Ukrzaliznytsia is preparing for the harsh winter conditions expected in Ukraine, with temperatures forecasted to reach -20C or lower. The company is developing
evacuation packs, mobile shelters, and supplementary bus services to assist passengers during frequent train stoppages and evacuations. Pertsovskyi emphasized the railway’s resilience, saying, “We might be a slightly different railway, a reinvented railway, but we’ll keep connecting the country, no matter what, be it winter, be it summer, no matter how hard the enemy hits us.” Passengers increasingly rely on Telegram channels for live missile and drone alerts while traveling.
