Despite two months having passed since the incident, the central area of the Lozova train station remains in such a precarious state that a piece of false ceiling collapses with a simple gust of wind.
The drones left the second floor, which housed the VIP lounge, in ruins. They also destroyed the main entrance of the compartment and the ticket sales area. The place remains in pure ruin, with huge gaps in the thick brick walls.
When Olena Kolashnyk was on duty on August 5th at 2:38 in the morning, she barely had time to warn the 18 people - including some passengers waiting for an early connection to the city of Sloviansk - to run for shelter in one of the hallways. "Two-wall zone," reads the sign indicating where pedestrians should run to seek protection in case of an alert.
"We were very scared. It was pure panic. We didn't know if people were alive or dead. They fell in waves. We could hear them flying, and then the explosions came," she recalls as she walks through the facilities.
Lozova Station, destroyed by Russian drones.Sofiia GatilovaREUTERS
On that day, the Russians launched 36 'Shahid' drones against Lozova, a city in the Kharkiv region, where about 70,000 people reside.
"They launched 15 against the station. One did not explode and got stuck in the roof. The attack lasted over two hours. When I arrived, the entire roof was on fire," adds Svitlana Gromaolska, deputy director of the railway facilities in this town.
"I'm not in the Russians' heads, but those days they also attacked other stations in the same network. They want to immobilize the railway distribution centers," she opines.
The assault on Lozova is part of the spiral in which both Russia and Ukraine have been embroiled for months, aimed at disrupting the railway network of their adversaries.
This dynamic saw a significant escalation on Saturday when Moscow's AUVs attacked two passenger trains at Shostka station in the northern Sumy region, injuring nearly a dozen - including three children - and killing a 71-year-old person.
The bloody incident occurred in two phases, as the Russians launched a second drone at the same location while rescue teams were evacuating the injured from the initial explosion.
One of the damaged locomotives in Shostka had already been equipped with anti-drone mesh defenses surrounding the vehicle, similar to those used by many armored vehicles and military vehicles, yet this did not prevent the fire caused by the AUV impact.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko referred to the Shostka incident and stated that "the Russians have entered a new stage of barbarism: they systematically attack passenger trains".
Shortly after the incident, Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, the top official of Ukrzaliznytsia - the company managing the railway system - had a conversation with the AP and EL MUNDO agency emphasizing this claim.
"Since February 2022 (when Moscow launched its major invasion), not a week has passed without the railway infrastructure being attacked, but from July and August, we have witnessed an intensification of the attacks. Since August, we have suffered 40 major attacks on the railway infrastructure, and these are not actions of a single 'Shahed' (Iranian-origin drone) but usually involve a dozen or more," Pertsovskyi specified.
Damaged wagons in Lozova.Sofiia GatilovaREUTERS
The head of Ukrzaliznytsia stated that the assault on Shostka occurred almost simultaneously with the bombing of the train depots in Odesa and Konotop, and a power station supplying the railway line in Chernihiv.
- Question. Do you believe there is a plan to disrupt the railway service?
- Answer. Yes. All of this coincides with the massive attacks on the country's electrical facilities. They are implementing a very clear plan. Russia wants to leave us without electricity, heating, and connection (by rail). They want Ukrainians to be left without basic services this winter.
- Q. What is your assertion based on?
- A. It's not just about the quantity but the tactics. They are now using very precise 'Shaheds' to target each locomotive and each electrical substation. They have been very precise (in the case of Shostka) at a distance of 50 or 60 kilometers. They went for the locomotives. It was not a mistake. They were flying at a high altitude and then dove at great speed. This tactic makes it very difficult to shoot them down with mobile machine gun units. There was no military target. They only aimed to create panic among the population. They have combined quantity and precision, and can reach a radius of up to 200 kilometers (from their positions). These are very painful blows, but we have not canceled any trains to show the enemy that they will not achieve what they intend.
- Q. Do you have any plans to counter this offensive?
- A. Yes. We will not interrupt service in the most affected regions: Dnipro, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Odesa, Donetsk, or the northern areas. But we will change some routes, some stops, and cover others by mixing buses and trains. The goal is to maintain connectivity while minimizing risks.
According to Ukrainian officials, the Russian offensive against the railway network is being carried out systematically and precisely. They are focusing on stations that serve as railway connection hubs for multiple lines, such as Lozova, locomotive and wagon depots, and dozens of power stations supplying the line. In September, they also damaged a bridge over the Dnipro River used by trains in the city of Kremenchuk, and in March, online ticket sales services suffered a cyberattack that left them blocked for nearly four days.
Two days before the action against Shostka, the Russians destroyed a train depot in Konotop, in the same Sumy region, causing "massive" damage, as stated by the mayor of that city, Artem Semeninkhin. "It's a very hard blow. The damage to the railway infrastructure can only be repaired after the victory (after the end of the war)," he admitted.
According to a well-known local analyst, Serhiy Flash, the Russian onslaught requires an emergency meeting between Ukrzaliznytsia and local armed forces, as Moscow seems to have designed a very specific strategy. "They will mainly target the locomotives. Without them, the trains do not operate, and their number is limited. The same goes for their drivers," recommended the expert, who also advocated for installing electronic interception systems on these machines.
The Ukrainian railway network, spanning about 20,000 kilometers and employing around 17,000 workers, has proven to be the most efficient means of communication in the country, transporting thousands of people since the beginning of the major offensive in 2022 despite continuous attacks by Russian forces.
As Pertsovskyi acknowledges, Ukrzaliznytsia has tried to compensate for the disruptions caused by power outages with dozens of old diesel-powered machines, which has not prevented chaotic days like those of September 17th and 18th when the Shahed actions left dozens of kilometers of tracks inactive and caused massive delays.
Ukrainian military expert Oleg Zhdanov estimated that the Russians are trying to replicate the same tactic used by Kiev's military. "They have realized the effectiveness of attacks on logistics because they have also experienced them. Ukrainian operations against Russian logistics have delayed the shipment of Russian equipment for the summer and autumn offensives (this year). They have not been able to launch that offensive due to lack of resources," Zhdanov stated in an interview with the Ukrainian publication Focus.