Assaults on Ukraine's Railway Infrastructure: Emerging Challenges

Since mid-summer, Russia has intensified its strikes on Ukraine's railway facilities, executing an average of six to seven drone attacks with ‘Shahed’ drones nearly every night. This was reported by Oleksandr Pertzovsky, the chairman of the board of JSC ‘Ukrzaliznytsia’, in an interview with Reuters.

“Their main goal is to instill panic among passengers, and their secondary goal is to strike at the economy,” Pertzovsky stated.

According to him, these attacks are not specifically targeting military cargo. “Essentially, these are strikes on civilian infrastructure,” he added.

The attacks, which have affected dozens of electrical substations, are linked to a sharp increase in the number of long-range drones produced by the Russian military-industrial complex.

“Previously, they simply didn’t have the resources to target a locomotive with a combat drone like ‘Shahed’. Now they can afford to use ‘Shaheds’ to strike individual locomotives rather than strategic targets,” he said.

Pertzovsky noted that since mid-summer, Russia has been attacking electrical substations and other railway infrastructure with an average of six to seven ‘Shahed’ drones almost nightly.

“They operate systematically, disabling one substation after another or key railway junctions to halt passenger trains,” Pertzovsky explained. Recent examples include attacks on the Lozova, Synelnykove, and Koziatyn stations.

Despite the systematic attacks, the Ukrainian railway system is managing the load, and transit of military cargo has not been affected.

“This is a marathon… They (the Russians) hit us, we recover. They hit us again, and we recover again,” he described the situation.

According to World Bank estimates, approximately 30% of Ukraine's railway infrastructure is currently in a state of ‘damage-recovery’.

In previous comments to the agency, Pertzovsky stated that the Russians are attempting to destroy key railway hubs. Notably, on September 17, the railway infrastructure was attacked by the Russian army, causing delays in several trains.