How important are Ukraine’s trains to its war effort?

| The Economist Sayfa 1 / 3

The Economist
Skip
Menu to content explains
Featured
How important are Ukraine’s trains to its war effort?
Climate
The rail network
change matters strategically—and symbolically
Coronavirus
War in Ukraine
The Biden presidency
1843 magazine
The world in brief
Sections
The world this week
Leaders
Letters
Briefing
United States
The Americas
Asia
China
Middle East & Africa
Europe
Britain
International
Business
Finance & economics
Science & technology
Culture
In the early weeks of the war Russia largely spared Ukraine’s railways, possibly in the hope that its
Graphic detail
troops
Obituary might find the tracks useful. But more recently it has launched salvos of rockets against the
network. The latest came on May 17th, when Russia fired missiles at rail infrastructure near Lviv, a city
Special reports
in
TechnologyUkraine.
western QuarterlyThe attack followed similar strikes in early May and late April, as well as the shelling
of a crowded railway station in Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, on April 8th that killed at least 52 people.
Essay
The strikes underscore the strategic significance of Ukraine’s railway network. Why is it so important?
By Invitation
Some
Schools 22,000km
brief of tracks criss-cross Ukraine’s vast flatlands (see map). After the invasion on February
24th Ukraine
The World Ahead quickly
2022recognised their potential value to its adversary. Two days into the war its army
blew
What up If?all rail links leading into Ukraine from Russia. Russia’s slow-moving army has often relied on
rail to carry, and supply, its lumbering convoys inside the country’s vast land mass. It also has its own
Open Future
The Economistrail-auxiliary
29,000-strong Explains service, which provides logistical support to other units. Russia’s dependence
on rail at home may explain its hesitation to attack Ukraine’s infrastructure. “The initial phase of war was
More
about capturing and holding Ukrainian territory,” says Emily Ferris of the Royal United Services
Newsletters
Institute, a think-tank in London. “And if you want to govern a country, you want it intact.”
Podcasts
Films
Subscriber events
iOS app
Android app
Online courses
Search

file:///C:/Users/Kullanan/Downloads/How%20important%20are%20Ukraine’s%20trains... 26.05.2022
How important are Ukraine’s trains to its war effort? | The Economist Sayfa 2 / 3

But as the invasion has dragged on the railways have instead bolstered Ukraine’s resilience. Its army
often operates through nimble ambush groups that do not require rail transport . But the influx of Western
arms and supplies on which Ukraine increasingly relies are often shifted across the country by rail. Trains
have also allowed civilians to escape Russian advances, and casualties to be evacuated in hospital
wagons.
Ukraine is also trying to use rail to circumvent the Russian naval blockade of its Black Sea ports. Wagons
of grain are placed on trains heading west, destined for ports in Poland, Romania and the Baltic states.
But transport by rail is costlier than by sea, and capacity is limited. And because Ukraine uses a different
gauge of track to its neighbours, at the border the shipments must be loaded into new wagons, or the
wagons themselves lifted on to new rail undercarriages. This leads to delays typically lasting 16 days,
according to Adina Valean, the EU’s transport commissioner.
Russia’s defence ministry has warned that the Western weapons trundling into Ukraine by rail make
legitimate targets. That does not apply to the trains that have brought in delegations of Western leaders,
such as Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of America’s House of Representatives, on May 1st. But Russia finds
other ways to make known its displeasure at these diplomatic convoys. Ms Ferris thinks that it may time
air strikes on Ukrainian railway stations near the border with Poland to spook visiting politicians and
discredit their hosts. On April 25th, within hours of a visit by America’s secretary of state and defence
secretary, an attack on five rail-infrastructure targets in central and western areas of Ukraine cut power to
several lines.
And yet such attacks have not dissuaded Ukraine’s regular rail passengers, of whom 200,000 travel daily.
Much to the pride of their Ukrainian operators, most trains rattle on with only minor delays.
Read more of our recent coverage of the Ukraine crisis
More from The Economist explains:
Why the Black Sea matters to Russia
How Ukraine is winning the drone-jamming war
Why is Russia setting up detention centres in Ukraine?
Disable on this site
Translate

file:///C:/Users/Kullanan/Downloads/How%20important%20are%20Ukraine’s%20trains... 26.05.2022
How important are Ukraine’s trains to its war effort? | The Economist Sayfa 3 / 3

from 

into  go

file:///C:/Users/Kullanan/Downloads/How%20important%20are%20Ukraine’s%20trains... 26.05.2022