![]() ![]() So, why not learn a few basic Russian phrases and expressions to enhance your general knowledge and become happier in the process? “So are the people who work on them.Russian is a fascinating and melodic language that is thought to be the most glamorous language in the world. ![]() They are routinely thanked for their service on the streets. Train employees, perhaps second only to soldiers, have earned a place in the hearts of many Ukrainians. He was happy to now be bringing people back into the country, and he was proud of his role in the war. The conductor on the Kyiv express from Warsaw, Stanislav Shynkaruk, 49, has witnessed countless scenes of suffering and bravery over six months of war. When bridges are hit, trains can be quickly rerouted. Strikes on the lines themselves can often be repaired in under 30 minutes. The longest any train has been delayed is 12 hours, when, in the spring, Russia unleashed a fusillade of missiles at railroad infrastructure, taking out a key power source. Away from the front, trains are running on time and safely. Kamyshin said that each morning, there was shelling reported near about 10 stations in the region and that the railway takes special precautions - which he asked not be made public - in carrying out evacuations there. The war-torn towns and cities of eastern Ukraine remain the most challenging to reach. The trains have carried in more than 100,000 tons of food, water and medicine. The movement of humanitarian aid into the country has been smoother. More than 13,000 rail cars stuffed with iron ore, chemicals, vegetable oil and other commodities are stuck at the Ukrainian-Polish border, caught in a web of logistical challenges and bureaucratic red tape, according to industry officials. When a Russian naval blockade shut down Ukraine’s ports, the rail network offered a crucial way to export goods, helping to keep the economy from collapsing. On July 30, more people crossed from Poland into Ukraine than left Ukraine. 24, about 3.25 million had returned home by August, according to the Polish border authorities and. While 5.15 million refugees from Ukraine have entered Poland since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. The Warsaw-to-Kyiv train is sold out, more than a month in advance of its departure. Solovyova is one of hundreds of thousands now making the journey back to Ukraine. Four hours of banging and clanging and two passport checks later, the train was rolling through Ukraine. ![]() ![]() The railway helps make those rhythms possible.īecause the Ukrainian rail system is built with wider-gauge tracks than the European network, the undercarriage of the cars has to be switched before the five-wagon train can move on toward Kyiv. They are also rifts in thought: Despite ever-looming threats, a growing number of Ukrainians are returning - and some are choosing to stay - as they try to find rhythms of normal life in abnormal times. They are not just geographic divides, like the front line that has hardened for now into a diagonal scar running across the nation’s south and east. Six months in, with no end in sight, the war has carved fissures across Ukraine. The railway has enabled the flight of refugees and of those who are internally displaced, the movement of goods and weapons and the reunions of families. In ways large and small, Ukrainian National Railways, with its 230,000 employees, has been a vital player in this war, helping to keep the nation bound together as Russia tries to tear it apart. After a journey that took them through Moldova, Romania and Hungary, they finally settled in Lodz, Poland. They fled Ukraine in the first weeks of the war, as did millions of others. In early August, Olga Solovyova and her 8-year-old son, Misha, counted on that connection and returned to Kyiv for the first time since March. In a war bent on creating division, the rails offer vital connection. This week, when a missile struck a train in eastern Ukraine and killed at least 25 people, service continued along the rest of the vast network that includes more than 12,000 miles of track. Ukrainian trains have never stopped running, even in the pre-dawn hours when Russia’s attack began six months ago. Better protection if an explosion blows it out.īut 15 hours later, pulling into the imposing central station in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, at 1:12 p.m., exactly on time, perhaps the most remarkable thing about the journey was how ordinary it had been. KYIV, Ukraine - A Polish friend offered some advice about taking the Ukrainian National Railways express train to Kyiv from Warsaw: Close the blinds before you go to bed, and sleep with your head by the door and away from the window. ![]()
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