President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he has ordered Ukraine’s military leaders to respond after a spate of Russian attacks targeting railway infrastructure and logistics routes.
His comments on Monday come after Russian forces stepped up attacks, including on a train last week that killed five people in a railway car in the eastern region of Kharkiv.
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Ukraine has managed to keep its nationwide rail network running despite almost four years of war. Russian forces have prioritised the capture of train hubs, such as Kupiansk and Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine.
“The Russian army remains focused on terror against our logistics – primarily railway infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said in a post on social media. “In particular there were strikes in the Dnipro region and in Zaporizhzhia, specifically targeting railway facilities.”
State railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia warned that several of its routes in eastern Ukraine are becoming increasingly “high risk” and urged passengers to instead take buses.
In the eastern region of Sumy, Ukrzaliznytsia said it will monitor Russian drone threats and stop trains near bomb shelters if they emerge.
‘Very complex’ negotiations
Russian drones and missiles have continued to bombard civilian areas, killing 12 miners in a bus on Sunday in the most recent mass aerial attack. The barrages are also wrecking the Ukrainian power grid, leaving people without heating, light and running water in bitter winter cold.
The attacks come as a new round of US-brokered talks on ending the war are set to go ahead this week after a brief postponement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said discussions will take place on Wednesday and Thursday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where a meeting was held last month.
On Sunday, Zelenskyy said he will send a delegation.
United States President Donald Trump’s administration over the past year has pushed the two sides to find compromises to end the war. But breaking the deadlock on key issues appears no closer as the fourth anniversary of Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbour approaches this month.
Peskov described the negotiations as “very complex”.
“On some issues, we have certainly come closer because there have been discussions, conversations and on some issues it is easier to find common ground,” he told reporters. “There are issues where it’s more difficult to find common ground.”
Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev was in Miami, Florida, at the weekend for talks with American officials, but Peskov refused to provide any details of the meeting.
A key sticking point is whether Russia gets to keep Ukrainian territory its army has occupied, especially in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland. Moscow is also demanding possession of other Ukrainian land there that it hasn’t been able to capture on the battlefield.
Ukraine has ruled out ceding ground, saying such a move would only embolden Moscow, and it has refused to sign any deal that might fail to deter Russia from invading again.
After failing in its aim of a lightning offensive to capture Kyiv and topple Ukraine’s leadership in a matter of days in 2022, Russia has been bogged down in the face of Ukrainian defences and is now mounting a grinding advance that has come at a huge human cost.