Train attacks

Russia's increasingly frequent attacks on the Ukrainian railway system – vital infrastructure that keeps the country moving three and a half years since Moscow's full-scale invasion.

Ukraine's 21,000km-long (13,000-mile) railway system is not merely a mode of transport, it is a central pillar of Ukraine's war effort and a powerful national symbol of resilience.

Ukraine says civilians and rescue teams were directly targeted, which would constitute a possible war crime under international law. Thirty people in total were hurt. Of those treated in hospital, three were children, and one man was found dead, possibly from a heart attack.

According to national rail operator Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ), there were twice as many attacks in September as there were in August - not just on trains but on the infrastructure that supports the rail network. In fact, half of the attacks on the railways since the beginning of the war have taken place in the past two months, says Oleksiy Balesta, a deputy minister at the department that oversees the rail network.

"Almost every day for the last two months, we have been experiencing targeted attacks on Ukrzaliznytsia infrastructure and on power transmission facilities," he says. Balesta suggests Russia has been "hunting for locomotives - deliberately targeting both freight and passenger trains".

The attack also included a strike on a key rail junction in Koziatyn in the central Vinnytsia region, creating delays and forcing significant diversions.

As he speaks, Balesta receives a message from his assistant. There has been another attack on a train between Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in the eastern Donetsk region,