Russia has opened a deadly new phase in its war against Ukraine by deliberately targeting the country’s railway network, with six employees killed on Tuesday in the latest strikes on Kyiv. Ukraine’s state-owned railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, said its workers died when a ballistic missile plunged into a locomotive depot. The Russians hit other railway facilities, it added, during a massive bombardment of Kyiv and the Kyiv region.
At least 12 people died, with a dozen wounded, including three children. Railway staff have been working at the scene since early this morning. The attack has caused significant damage.
Rescue workers are still putting out a number of fires,” said Ukrzaliznytsia’s chair, Oleksandr Pertsovsky. The grim strike took place as Russia escalated its attacks on the Ukrainian capital. It has carried out continuous raids for six days, beginning last week, in an attempt to disrupt daily life and demoralise the city’s inhabitants.
The onslaught took place hours before Ukrainian children began a new school year. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, 58 railway staff have been killed and at least 318 injured. One wounded railway employee, Volodymyr, was taken to hospital on Tuesday, with people urged to donate blood if they were B positive – his group.
Ukraine’s railway network is Europe’s third largest, with 15,000 miles (24,000km) of track. It has been a lifeline for the country’s wartime civilians, transporting four million people and an estimated 120,000 pets. It has brought world leaders to Kyiv, including Joe Biden and Andy Burnham, who arrived last week on an overnight service from Poland.
Serhih Leshchenko, a member of Ukrzaliznytsia’s supervisory board, described the railway as the “backbone of Ukraine’s economy”. It was the main logistical supplier for the country’s army and industry, and every week transported 600,000 people, he told the Guardian. With 170,000 workers, it was also Ukraine’s biggest company.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
